Mandy Rossouw held a Q&A with Mpho Dibeela, editor of Botswana Guardian, on the country’s stance on key issues.
What, in your view, are the biggest obstacles that Botswana faces today?
Failure to diversify the economy away from an over-reliance on diamond revenue and the mineral sector has remained a serious problem. An example is the recent economic meltdown where government revenue was severely hit because of the low demand for diamonds, the result being that Botswana had to borrow from the African Development Bank to fund part of its budget. Just this week the government signed another loan agreement of $186-million with the World Bank to fund its integrated transport project. The other challenges are in the areas of fighting and containing the HIV/Aids scourge, improving delivery among public sector employees and fighting the rising scourge of crime and road carnage.
Has the government done well in entrenching democracy?
There has been stagnation in this area with new democratic countries like South Africa that seem to be doing better than Botswana. For example, the provision for direct election of the state president is something the ruling party is yet to embrace. The state continues to have specially elected MPs who are nominated by the ruling party and endorsed by it — with no member to date (43 years into democracy) having come from the opposition parties. The democratic process of electing leaders is compromised in this aspect. The government is unyielding in exploring the value of funding political parties. This means that only those with resources are bound to do well. And the incumbent government always has an edge over others because the president and his vice-president use state transport to reach every corner of the country to campaign for the elections.
What is the situation today regarding press freedom in the country?
This is stifled particularly with the recent promulgation of the Media Practitioners Act, which gives the minister full political control of the press in that she has the power to appoint and dissolve some of the committees. This also comes at the time when the Press Council of Botswana has been, to a great extent, effective in handling queries from the public about the media. What the press agitated for was a statutory recognition of the Press Council, not the creation of a new monster meant to control. However, publishers of private newspapers and owners of private radio stations are challenging the Act in court for, among other reasons, going against the letter and spirit of the Constitution that protects the freedom of expression.
How do you view the recent extrajudicial killings, where several people were murdered under mysterious circumstances? Does it spell danger for the future?
This new phenomenon is very worrying. The laws of the country are clear — that one is innocent until proved guilty. This, therefore, means that suspects are not given that benefit. It is unfortunate that no arrests and prosecution of those behind these extrajudicial killings have been made. Government has not come out strongly to condemn this — provoking the anger of the Law Society of Botswana, which has since petitioned the state president, calling for action.
Botswana’s reputation for good governance is so entrenched that a recent African Union observer team declared this year’s elections as free and fair even before the elections took place. What do you make of that?
That was an unnecessary over-excitement because there is no way such a pronouncement can be made before the full process is completed. To a great extent, however, the elections were free and fair, just as all those before them.