Precious Masego Masisi (91), the mother of Mokgweetsi Masisi, the president of Botswana and the leader of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), casting her ballot at the Mosielele Primary School polling station in his home village, Moshupa, on October 23, 2019. The general election happens in Botswana on October 23, 2019. Picture: AFP / Monirul Bhuiyan
Botswana’s national elections this week passed off peacefully – as we have come to expect in a country which has often been hailed as an African model for peace and prosperity.
Yet, there are parts of the Botswana story which are myths. Although the country’s overall GDP soared from the time diamonds were discovered around independence in 1966, that national wealth has not trickled down and Botswana still has one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor in the world.
Also, the Botswana Democratic Party founded by the country’s first leader, Sir Seretse Khama, has dominated politics there for five decades and was not beyond using repression to enforce its power.
This year has been the closest any opposition party has come to removing that hegemony. And, ironically, much of the ferment is from the Khama dynasty: former president Ian Khama, Seretse’s son, went his own way last year after a fall-out with the man who has just been elected as President, Mogweetsi Masisi.
This is, undoubtedly, the most turbulent time in Botswana’s political history … but even that seems mild compared to what where see here and elsewhere in Africa.
We hope the people of that country continue peaceful down their road of democracy.
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