Post-election, the country was reeling in the shock at the outcome and as one can imagine, it was not just the populace but even the newly elected leaders themselves who were taken aback. Batswana had not only booted out the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) but they had now placed a heavy yoke on the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) leaders, and they rightly knew that heavy would be the head that wears the crown.
At a recent public engagement, Gaolathe shared details about a previously unknown, unannounced trip: a visit to political maestro, Thabo Mbeki, which was the vice president’s first external trip. Sharing his encounter with Mbeki, Gaolathe recounted a story Mbeki told him that during the miracle elections of 1994 in South Africa when the African National Congress (ANC) gained power from the apartheid government, the leaders at the time also went abroad to learn from a political giant in Cuba by the name Fidel Castro.
Mbeki said Gaolathe reminded him of when the ANC took power, and how they too were eager to have a quick economic overhaul that would transfer mining rights and land to the black community just as is explicitly spelt out in the South African Freedom Charter.
“One of my first trips as Vice President was to South Africa to visit former President Thabo Mbeki, and he recounted how as a young politician they visited Cuba Havana, and when they got there they were holding big files carrying their vision, that the people will take over the mines and the people will take the mines just as is spelt out in the Freedom Charter.
“As they were talking to him and sharing their vision of how the people will take over the mines, they noticed that Castro was quiet. They then paused to allow him to speak and Castro asked only one question. “He said to them: Well, I appreciate the vision and its lofty and transformative, but I have one question. I would like to know how many mining engineers you have. Mbeki started looking down and was trying to count but could only count a few.
“If you don’t have the people if the people don’t have the expertise, then the ones who are empowered, the former owners will still own the mines, but they will do it the long way round,” Gaolathe quoted Mbeki as saying about the Castro visit. In June 1955, one of the most important events in the history of the South African freedom struggle took place.
The Congress of the People assembled in a shabby field in Kliptown, a suburb of what would later be called Soweto. The main purpose of the event was to debate and ratify a Freedom Charter, a statement to the world about the character of a future South Africa freed from the shackles of white supremacy.
The document has obvious significance as the creed of the ANC, one of the most important liberation movements of the 20th century. However, the Freedom Charter also offers important philosophical and strategic insights for everyone on the left.
Influenced by the ideas of the liberal enlightenment, the charter nevertheless transcends liberalism in crucial ways. Insisting on freedom, equality, and universal rights, the document is nevertheless quite specific — just where liberalism is abstract and evasive — about the material conditions that would be needed to make these rights meaningful.
The journey of South Africa towards liberating its own people is similar to Gaolathe’s quest to transform Botswana’s economy from the shackles of an undiversified revenue base. One could guess that the lessons from Mbeki have also informed the new government’s approach to implementing changes in the public sector.
The expectation from many people was that the new administration would initiate an overhaul starting with senior government officials and then followed by systems and legislative laws.
But the focus has been on learning the ropes and allowing government to continue with its normal function while introducing steady reforms. Gaolathe echoed this when he shared that in his experience, building an economy starts with capacity building and strengthening human resource measures.
“And I want to say the same to our people for building the Botswana economy. It starts with the people; it starts with having the right human resources to lead us as a country not a government. The gurus, the practitioners, the visionaries. They must take their place,” he said.
