For my part, I think the letter confirms my view that those who saw anything sinister in the intentions of the authors of the letter were mistaken. I read it as carefully as I read the initial reports of the newspaper on it, and I battled to find anything even mildly objectionable about it. It was no more than an effort, on the part of its authors, to consult their business colleagues and urge them to work jointly ("...as one voice, through HATAB; and present a constructive, legal and well prepared case...") against what they saw as a serious threat to their business interests, presumably of many years.
Look at it this way: the expatriate owners of the companies concerned applied legitimately, and in good faith, for the licences needed to operate their businesses. For their part, the relevant Botswana authorities granted the licences required, also in good faith, and the businesses have been operating ever since, and acquiring considerable goodwill and value. Then the popular new age of citizen empowerment arrived, and the government came under pressure to reserve many of the operations of these companies for citizens of Botswana.
This is understandable, of course, although lots of doubts have been raised about the real value to the economy of the country's various citizen-empowerment practices. But be that as it may, those expatriate-owned tourism companies, whose operations included some or all of the ones now being reserved exclusively for citizens, naturally felt threatened by the new policy. As their letter clearly puts it, "The most serious implication, which for obvious reasons we don't want anyone to highlight, is that in theory, the next time you go in to renew your C licence the Department of Tourism could say, 'sorry this category is for citizens only - no licence renewal.' It is not happening at the moment hence the need to keep absolutely quiet and not rock the boat as this obviously hasn't occurred to them yet."
In my view, this is the crux of the whole matter: the fear, on the part of the expatriate operators, that their licences will no longer be renewable given the new citizen empowerment policy, and the adverse effects this would obviously have on them. And the purpose of their letter was, in fact, simply to pool their resources with a view to resisting any attempt, on the part of the authorities, to close down their businesses in pursuit of the policy of citizen empowerment. Their letter put this beyond doubt in the following words: "Our priority is sorting this out otherwise there may be no 2008 onwards for expatriate-owned mobile companies." What sensible business people, faced with a similar threat, would not want to protect their interests in this way? Fortunately, it is still possible to protect such interests in our democracy, irrespective of one's nationality; and long may it remain like that.
It would be unfair, and possibly even unlawful, of the licensing authorities to refuse to renew the permits of the relevant companies. I do not understand why anyone would even contemplate this, considering that business activities have been reserved in the past, and I cannot recall any previously operating companies being denied licence renewals. Reservation policies should apply to new licences only, and not to renewals of existing ones, unless we want to kill foreign investment in this country.
In conclusion, a word of advice for Minister Mokaila. While the enthusiasm that he shows towards his work is admirable, he ought to be cautious about over-exposing himself to public scrutiny and criticism. Spending too much time on the frontlines of government ministries is very risky for the ministers concerned. The frontline is strictly for career public officers, who are there to take whatever blows, and protect their ministers from the rigours of dealing with members of the public. And if they commit any blunders in the process of doing this, then their ministers are always available to save the situation. Unfortunately, this fall-back option does not exist for a minister like Mokaila who seems to spend so much time doing work that is really the responsibility of his officials. Hopefully, he will learn the tricks of his new job as time goes by.
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Congratulations to Roy Sesana and the First People of the Kalahari on their determination to stand up for their rights, whatever the obstacles. Those who criticise them for seeking the assistance of European governments and NGOs should not intimidate them. After all, throughout its long encounter with the Basarwa, the government itself spent a fortune on various efforts to influence foreign public opinion on this subject.
