BDF goes to war, but at what cost?

On April 8, 2021, the presidential jet OK1 landed at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport just after 8pm and before President Mokgweetsi Masisi could sit behind the wheel to drive his Toyota GD6 home, he met the press in a televised media conference to update the nation, and, ‘to whom it may concern’, about his Mozambican sojourn. The mood around the President’s people was triumphant.

Even though the President knew that afternoon, that he would arrive late in Gaborone, after the curfew hours kicked in, he eagerly wanted to update the nation. The SADC Double Troika Communiqué that announced the approval of SADC intervention in Mozambique was already out. The local presidential media corps, judging from the Office of the President’s surprising eagerness to hold the briefing late in the night, were beginning to speculate that Masisi might be coming with much bigger news beyond the communiqué.