Whichever side one chooses to look at, society in Botswana is undergoing a fast and tumultuous transformation.
For too many of our people, that transformation is not only confusing and disorienting but has also become synonymous with instability. People are nervous, anxious and ill at ease, not least because of their economic situation.
Too many of our people have slipped off the economic ladder. Public uncertainty is worsened by lack of clarity on the part of the media. It would seem like there is a kind of informal pact across the media to find a way to appease and placate those in power. At the very least, if such a pact exists, it involves avoiding scrutiny of those in power.
That would amount to naivety on the part of the media because ultimately it is unsustainable. And it would come at a high cost with no winners in the end. Of course, the biggest loser is the ordinary Motswana who, in vain, continues to scour the media in search of answers on where the country is going. The other loser will be the media itself. It is inevitable that if this continues, the media will lose what little credibility they still have. Instead of the media providing clear-sighted direction to their audiences and readers, the whole thing has now descended into a fracas- a case of the blind leading the blind.
In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king. That is what came to my mind when thinking of the state in which we find most of our mainstream media. Journalists have a big job to fight for the truth. In fighting for the truth, they also find themselves fighting to be trusted. President Duma Boko has been giving a running commentary of his views on the media.
He has bemoaned the quality. At one point even talked of sloppy English grammar. President Boko is not the first sitting Head of State to talk like that about the media. Over the years, the private media have done a lot to shield the opposition from being held accountable. It was mainly on account of the fact that the opposition was miserably weak.
It is for that reason that the media does not seem to know how the same guys, now in power, should be handled. Watching from a distance, it is funny to watch awkward co-existence. There is no need for confusion. The media has to hold those in power accountable – for their own sake but also for the sake of our democracy. Notwithstanding past relationships with Boko when he was in opposition, the media should not in any way be surprised. He is now in power. Power and journalism naturally repel.
However, I had thought that was a great opportunity for the media, especially the leadership of Botswana Editors Forum and Misa Botswana, to seize on the moment, not to rebut or rebuke the president but to point out what the government could do on its part to facilitate and empower the media beyond the poor grammar that the president was referring to. Lo and behold, that did not happen.
Journalists cannot just bury their heads, hoping that the president never calls them out again. Nor can they avoid scrutiny of themselves simply through meekness and timidity. Increasingly, public life is becoming more combative, less kind and generally unforgiving.
The media does not need to be any of those. But they have to be strong in holding those in power accountable. They can only do so if they are themselves ethical. MISA Botswana and Botswana Editors Forum, the two premier media organisations in Botswana, need to understand that deploying acquiescence to buy peace, especially from politicians, weakens the media, legitimises attacks against journalists and emboldens those who want a docile media.
In one of his comments, President Boko talked about criminal defamation and reminded the journalists that if they do not change their ways, they are headed for jail.
The President is not only right; he also clearly knows what he is talking about. By expecting sympathy from Boko, the media is once again mistaken. Some years ago, when I was a practising journalist, Boko (now President) and Dick Byford (now Attorney General) represented us in a legal matter of criminal defamation brought against the Sunday Standard by then President Ian Khama. Criminal Defamation is just one of the many examples that criminalise journalism in Botswana. It is outdated. And too often it is used to stifle free journalism.
And as in many other issues, on this one the media is on its own. MISA Botswana and the Botswana Editors Forum should have taken the lead and used that to point out that many countries in SADC have already expunged Criminal Defamation clauses from their statutes. Botswana is lagging and should consider being progressive and also do the same. They did not. Instead, they recoiled into submission. I challenge MISA Botswana and the Botswana Editors Forum to push the Botswana government to get rid of Criminal Defamation from the country’s laws.
That is what UDC has always argued for when in opposition. The media in Botswana has been under a squeeze of some kind since the presidency of Ian Khama. That is as long back as 2008. The squeeze has been long and unrelenting.
Instead of developing a siege mentality, the media should weave their way out of it, including by holding themselves to high ethical standards. Long before the UDC came into power, the media was losing public trust. It has been a global trend.
Across the world, winning back that trust has become much harder for journalists because those in power have deliberately erected opaque layers between society and the truth. Journalism is itself under attack from too many sides. Journalists are some of the most criticised people. Which is why I don’t understand it when people say journalists have some sense of entitlement. The importance of the media has only grown because the world today has too many dictators in it.
Africa, in particular, has been backpedalling when it comes to democracy. And journalism is so fundamental to democracy that giving up on it is not an option. Even here in Botswana, good journalism is today much more important than ever before. Many people criticise journalists because they know how important journalism is to all of us.
Even during the best of times, good journalism is notoriously hard to perform. And in Africa, these are not journalism’s days. That golden age is long gone. Several countries in West Africa across the Sahel have experienced a coup of some kind.
Those are countries where media freedoms have literally been wiped out. Not only are journalists there being intimidated, but they are also being physically targeted by the authorities. The media is an integral part of a democracy. And no serious patriot would celebrate the demise of the media. But the only way for the media to stay relevant is for them to strive to tell the hard truths.
This means holding those in positions of power accountable. It also means they have to ask difficult questions to get answers, and to also question the answers that they get.
That will not happen if journalists are themselves behaving like sissies. Journalists should be prepared to push back against official narratives. And become the voice of the voiceless. Botswana is today going through a myriad of problems, many of it a hangover from previous administrations. The public education system has collapsed. Public health, too, is on its knees. Corruption is on the rise. The list is endless.
These put added responsibility on the media to keep the government in check. Newsrooms need strong leaders who are also not apologists. There is no shortage of public interest stories – from Botswana Railways to DCEC; from De Beers to BAMB, from DIS to BDF.
The media has to scrutinise the dynamics surrounding medical supplies in our hospitals and clinics. Power is a complex phenomenon. The UDC guys are only just coming into it, and they have not settled. And from their behaviour, it is clear they are still learning the ropes. All of a sudden, they find themselves with a lot of power in their hands, but they do not yet know what to do with it. Listening to some of them, including in Parliament, one would be forgiven for thinking they are still in opposition. During this phase, a lot of mistakes are bound to happen.
The media should be unforgiving in pointing out those mistakes. The media has to scrutinise ministers and the backbench against key performance indicators – and if need be, drag their feet through the hot coal. The opposition, too, has to be put under a microscopic glare. That will not be easy. It will, however, be much harder if we have journalists who are busy trying to endear themselves to politicians and other members of the elite. If as a journalist, you find yourself drawn to this class against the poor, then it is time to leave journalism.
The media is best reminded that no white knight is coming to save them. They have to save themselves. Individuals come and go. Political parties come into power and leave. At stake is the nation and country. These two remain constant. The media have a duty to demonstrate they are aware of that.
*Spencer Mogapi is former Botswana Editors Forum chairperson
