A decade later, private media returns to State House

The last time the President of Botswana had a date with the local media at his residence was almost 12 years ago in December 2007. It was a glorious cocktail event with the then president Festus Mogae. Many of the journalists who were on the guest list that night have since exited the fourth estate. Some have crossed to the ‘darkside’ in corporate public relations; some are retired to their small backyard gardens while others have since passed on.

That former president Mogae’s last media cocktail party at the State House is widely remembered as the event that set tone for the biggest news that followed in the beginning of January 2008. It was during that night, amidst plentiful wine, spirits, beer and good food that the president gave a hint of his fallout with “tsala yame ya mohumi Mochindo”.