Times Of Swaziland: Is Multi-Party Politics Democracy? Is Multi-Party Politics Democracy? ================================================================================ The Editor on 06/09/2009 00:00:00 Sir, Too many a times we have been told that a political system that does not encompass multi-party politics is not democratic. I have taken it upon myself to find out if that is true or fiction. From my observation, living in a country known for its democracy, all over Africa; Botswana has taught me that multi-party politics is definitely not a route to democracy. Let me explain my observation before you decide not to read on. Botswana has been the jewel in the midst of tyrants and despots. Today we are experiencing the democracy of Botswana being tested, by members of its own leading and governing political party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). After the Kanye convention, the President of the party, who is also the President of the country, has gone all out to take revenge on the members of the central committee of the BDP. This is so because the president had requested certain members of the BDP not to stand for elections in certain strategic positions within the party. This he did so as to enable his favourite friends and bootlickers to secure these positions, as he was not prepared to work with certain members of the party. This was the breaking point, especially when the people who were favourites with the majority refused to heed the president’s demands claiming that it was their right to stand for any position that is vacant in the party. There was a split in the party, as there were factions that aligned with the president (A-Team) and a faction that aligned with a Cabinet minister who resigned his ministerial position for a position within the party as Chairman, Daniel Kwelagobe. The Daniel Kwelagobe faction was later known as the Barata-phati (those who love the party) faction. The Barata-phati faction proved to be stronger for the President at the Kanye convention because all the Barata-phati members won all the strategic positions in the Party central committee. This did not go down well with the President, Ian Khama, who then responded by unilaterally appointing his A-team members into sub-committees of the party in order to neutralise the Barata-phati faction. After challenging the President’s move and seeking legal redress from three law firms, the party’s secretary general, Gomolemo Motswaledi was subsequently suspended by the President. The president in a press release claimed that Motswaledi had disrespected him by challenging the president’s authority. After Motswaledi’s suspension, the President has come under fire from members of the public, members of the party and from private media. Some have even called for his immediate resignation, should he fail to work with the Barata-party faction members. We have seen a series of consultations and meetings initiated by past Presidents, Sir Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae, in a bid to talk sense to the current President. These meetings have not proved fruitful as last Friday we learnt that the meetings had failed after Khama refused to lift his suspension on Motswaledi. In a bid to earn his reputation and dignity, Motswaledi has taken the matter to court with an urgent appeal, seeking the lifting of the suspension. The BDP has been the only party in power since Botswana gained its independence in 1966. The political system used here is similar to that of Swaziland where MPs are elected from the Tinkhundla centres, commonly called Kgotla centres in siTswana. Batswana do not elect a president as much as Swazis do not elect their Prime Minister. The President is appointed by the incumbent President in what is known as an automatic succession policy that was enshrined into the Constitution of Botswana by former President, Masire. It is for this reason that I find it very strange for a country that has 98 per cent one party representation in Parliament, a country with an autocratic system of government that does not allow people to elect their own President, to be considered as a democracy just because they have legalised multi-parties. A country where people have no rights, as the police are at liberty to shoot and kill without any judicial intervention. A country where people live in fear and not freedom, where the President intends to instill discipline in every member of the community. I am reminded here of our own situation, where the king reappointed Barnabas Dlamini, a man known for discipline, and because it was thought this was lacking in the previous prime minister. To date some members of SWAYOCO and PUDEMO are being incarcerated, perhaps to prove a point. Allow me to conclude that acts and unjust incarceration of civilians, tend to lead to a rebellion. Let me remind you of the Russian revolution in the 1920s where anyone who disagreed with Joseph Stalin would suddenly disappear. It was called the ‘great purge’. It is these unjust acts perpetrated by those in power that eventually lead to revolutions against the state. A lesson must be learnt from the fall of the Roman and British Empires, where peasants got fed up of being peasants. The PM needs to learn from these experiences. There is no situation that lasts forever (kute simo lesinge ndluli). Qalakaliboli Dlamini Gaborone