06 Feb 2022

If suggestions made by speakers during the Presidential Commission of Enquiry on the Constitution in Tlokweng last Friday are any measure of the tribe’s sentiment on the election of the president, then the tribe could be fairly polarised on the matter.

While acknowledging that the constitution had hitherto done well in terms of building social cohesion and nurturing peace, Mr Masego Segokgo said the time had come for the president to be elected by the people.

“Our one past the pole system has been passed by events. Let us have direct election of the president,” he said, adding this would enhance democracy and help to maintain the peace and tranquillity that Botswana had enjoyed so far.

Where in other areas the suggestion had received some applause, here there was guardedness, even hedging of reaction. An approving drone here, and a criticising murmur there.

So, it was not surprising that when Ms Masego Kewagamang went to the podium, she sternly warned against any changes to Section 32 of the constitution. Countries that opted for direct election of the president were ruined by civil war and poverty and development had come to a standstill.

“Eo ya direct election of the president is a non-starter- ka gore ga go bereke ko mahatsheng a mangwe. Mahatshe a a dirang jalo ga gona kagiso ko go one, go dintwa, go mauba le performance e ko tlase.

Re rata go kopa dilo tsa mahatshe a sele mme re sa leba gore go solegela lehatshe molemo jang,” she submitted.

Her last line was a rebuke to those who wanted direct election of the president, for wanting to be copycats without considering the pros and cons. Ms Kgakgamatso Modumedisi also concurred that Botswana should maintain the current system of electing the president.

“Ha e le e ya direct election of the president, o kare ga ke dumalane le yone,” she said. Again, there was the hum of those in agreement and the mumble of the contrary.

The issue is guaranteed to come up in most of the consultative meetings, and it is likely that the views will become as divergent as the people themselves, as the commission takes its meetings farther away from urban areas. ENDS