tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/mokgweetsi-masisi-56148/articlesMokgweetsi Masisi – The Conversation2019-11-06T13:22:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1261502019-11-06T13:22:56Z2019-11-06T13:22:56ZHow Masisi outsmarted Khama to take the reins in Botswana<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300085/original/file-20191104-88428-77r7lj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mokgweetsi Masisi being sworn in as the elected President of Botswana by Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane. With him is his wife Neo. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mmegi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mokgweetsi Masisi’s <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/botswanas-masisi-wins-hotly-contested-election-20191025">decisive victory</a> in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/world/africa/botswana-election-mokgweetsi-masisi.html">recent Botswana elections</a> over a coalition backed by his former boss, Ian Khama, is the culmination of an astonishing 10 year political career. </p>
<p>Morphing from an obscure first-time MP in 2009 to a <a href="http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/wp-column-details.php?col_id=22">surprise </a> vice presidential appointment in 2014, and then <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/botswana-mokgweetsi-masisi-takes-over-presidency-amid-opposition-resurgence/a-43206610">president in 2018</a>, the man affectionately known as “Sisiboy” (a play on his surname) has wrested control of Botswana from the powerful Khama family. This he has achieved using tireless campaigning and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGazettebw/posts/10156960929272620">“the rebirth of the Botswana Democratic Party”</a> (BDP).</p>
<p>The Khama lineage has dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, right through the modern presidencies of Sir Seretse Khama (1966-1980) and Ian Khama (2008-2018). But they are now a discredited, spent force with <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/08/05/newly-formed-bpf-party-endorsed-by-khama-confident-of-electoral-victory">Ian Khama’s new party</a> having won only 5% of the vote.</p>
<p>The prosecution of Khama’s security chief, <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-botswana-arrests-ex-spy-boss">Isaac Kgosi</a>, and presidential secretary, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82492&dir=2019/september/03">Carter Morupisi</a>, following his assumption of power in 2018, showed that Masisi was no longer willing to tolerate <a href="https://www.zambianobserver.com/former-president-ian-khama-linked-to-billions-of-dollars-found-in-offshore-accounts-belonging-to-dis-agent-maswabi/">the widespread corruption</a> that flourished under his predecessor. Investigators continue to uncover allegations of <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">shocking malfeasance</a>.</p>
<p>Masisi, 58, is on a mission to restore Botswana’s reputation as a beacon of clean governance on the continent, and is pouring resources and energy into that effort.</p>
<p>His ascent and success have surprised everybody. Even Khama <a href="https://inkjournalism.org/1904/turmoil-in-africas-model-democracy/">admitted</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have come to realise that I have maybe misjudged him. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The early days</h2>
<p>My own acquaintance with Masisi goes back to childhood, when we attended the same schools and played tennis at the same club. The last time I saw him was at a now defunct laundromat in northern Gaborone, in 1994. He was his usual friendly, well-mannered self, inquisitive and loquacious. Recently returned from completing his master’s degree in education at Florida State University, he was one of the co-owners of this faltering business. </p>
<p>Prior to going to Florida State, Masisi had worked on revamping Botswana’s social studies curriculum for its secondary schools, which he continued to do in the 1990s under the sponsorship of UNICEF. Knowing that the curriculum was a disaster (having no Botswana history at all and being full of outdated colonial and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/bantu-education-and-racist-compartmentalizing-education">Bantu Education</a> myths), I doubted he could make meaningful changes. Whether he ever did or not, his early career in pedagogy undoubtedly led him to confront government dysfunction head on.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/botswanas-governing-party-wins-tight-election-but-biggest-tests-are-yet-to-come-125666">Botswana’s governing party wins tight election. But biggest tests are yet to come</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Gaborone in the 1970s and 80s was a small, intimate place, and Masisi grew up there surrounded by the families of the Botswana bureaucratic and business elite. Despite this somewhat privileged milieu and education, nothing about him then suggested that he would go on to become such an influential national politician. </p>
<p>Although his father, <a href="http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/news-details.php?nid=25372">Edison</a>, was a senior cabinet member, Masisi did not display the charisma of a <a href="https://maps.prodafrica.com/places/botswana/south-east-district/gaborone/monument-1/sir-seretse-khama-statue-gaborone-botswana/">Sir Seretse Khama</a>, the first president of independent Botswana. Neither did he show the technocratic brilliance of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/18/ketumile-masire-obituary">Quett Masire</a>, who succeeded Seretse Khama as president in 1980; nor the emotional oratory of a <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/tribute-dk-kwelagobe-he-leaves-position-bdp-secretary-general-after-27-years">Daniel Kwelagobe</a>, the BDP chairman. Although Masisi today compares favourably to any of these political legends, none of this seemed evident in his youth.</p>
<p>He has always been easy to underestimate. Although a prefect at Gaborone’s <a href="https://www.thornhillprimary.ac.bw/">Thornhill</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/maruapula/posts/">Maru A Pula</a> private schools, he was not a standout personality. Strong in humanities rather than the sciences, he was a middling student. Similar things could be said about his teenage sports career, during which he never showed the same tenacity and killer instinct on the tennis court that he has shown in politics. </p>
<h2>The ‘priest’</h2>
<p>Masisi’s greatest moment in his young life was when, at 20, he was cast as the <em>umfundisi</em> (priest) in a 1983 Gaborone theatrical adaptation of Alan Paton’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cry-the-Beloved-Country-novel-by-Paton">“Cry the Beloved Country”</a>. Playing a much older man with grey hair, a shuffling gait, and a quavering voice, Masisi turned in a powerful performance that brought him a standing ovation from <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/alan-stewart-paton">Paton</a> himself and President Masire.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299983/original/file-20191103-88394-1acw3ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The young Mokgweetsi Masisi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMasisi/photos/a.859647030770828/2432458980156284/?type=3&theater">Mokgweetsi Masisi FB page</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While his acting career ended after a role in a highly forgettable <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b88ceeb37">straight-to-video feature</a>, his portrayal of the priest nevertheless presaged key themes of his future political life.</p>
<p>After leaving UNICEF in 2003 Masisi entered politics, but failed to win his father’s old seat in Moshupa, the family home 41km northwest of Gaborone. He then endured a period of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMasisi/">“failure, illness, unemployment, being seen as unfit for certain things, scorn and ridicule”</a>. He relied on his <a href="https://yourbotswana.com/2018/11/04/president-masisi-clarifies-first-ladys-role/">newly-wed wife Neo’s</a> salary for a time. He nevertheless persevered and built up a following, while also welcoming the birth of his daughter, Atsile.</p>
<p>Masisi managed to win the governing BDP’s primary and general election, <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/family-affairs-within-botswana-parliament">landing in parliament in 2009</a>. Within two years he was in the cabinet. In 2014, President Ian Khama, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">looking for an inexperienced and pliable deputy</a>, appointed him vice-president.</p>
<p>Like the priest in Paton’s story who went to Johannesburg seeking his sister and son only to find a degraded and desperate situation, so Masisi found the central government and cabinet unrecognisable from the institutions that his late father had served so well in the past. With the BDP having been taken over by a coalition of Khama lackeys and “tenderpreneurs” – business people who enrich themselves, often dubiously, through government tenders – even the party’s founder, former President Masire, disowned it for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/33661982/President_Masires_Final_Message_to_Botswana">lacking the values and discipline of the original</a>. </p>
<p>Masisi’s role as vice-president was to serve as a short-term stopgap for Ian Khama’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/13/how-fredo-tragic-godfather-character-became-an-insult-wielded-by-trump/">Fredo-like</a> brother, Tshekedi. His looming appointment as Khama’s successor was highly unpopular inside and outside the party.</p>
<p>Ever since 1998, the BDP has transferred power from the president to the vice-president a year before the next general election. Masire did this for Mogae in 1998, who then did the same thing for Ian Khama in 2008.</p>
<h2>Outmanoeuvring the Khamas</h2>
<p>It is clear that former President Khama (66), like many others, underestimated his young vice-president. Masisi took advice in secret late-night sessions with former presidents Masire and Mogae as well as other veterans who despised “the New BDP” that Khama led.</p>
<p>Using their counsel, he attended party meetings across the entire country to build up his own constituency. Masisi <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">described</a> his years as vice-president] as “brutal hell”, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82441&dir=2019/august/30">adding that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was the most abused vice-president.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once Khama handed power to Masisi in April 2018, “Sisiboy” moved quickly onto the attack, arresting the despised Isaac Kgosi and installing his own supporters in key positions. Once the Khama brothers <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/06/01/botswana-ex-president-slams-successor-after-quitting-ruling-party//">defected to the opposition</a> ahead of the 2019 election, they and their supporters were thoroughly outworked by Masisi’s relentless campaign organisation. </p>
<p>The full story of how the underling Masisi prosecuted his silent war with Khama is one we must wait for. Ultimately, it is his energetic campaigning and <a href="http://www.sundaystandard.info/masiresque-masisi">his desire to bring back </a>the forgotten ethos and policies of the early BDP – of Seretse Khama and Masire – that won over the voters despite the defection of the Khamas.</p>
<p>Masisi now vows to reinvigorate Botswana’s stalled economy. In this regard his supporters expect him to show no less stamina than he did in the election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Morton receives funding from Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation </span></em></p>The Khamas have dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, but they are now a discredited, spent force.Barry Morton, Research Fellow, African Studies, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256662019-10-25T10:18:44Z2019-10-25T10:18:44ZBotswana’s governing party wins tight election. But biggest tests are yet to come<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298708/original/file-20191025-173554-sy3fdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C2286%2C1439&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The newly elected President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JUSTIN LANE/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Botswana Democratic Party, which has governed the country since independence in 1966, has retained power in one of the most competitive elections in the country’s 53-year post-independence history. It retained its parliamentary majority, winning <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/125666/edit#">at least 29 </a>of the 57 contestable seats in the National Assembly. </p>
<p>Botswana has a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/first-past-post-voting-system/">first-past-the-post</a> electoral system in which a simple majority is required to win government. The southern African nation has a population of <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_bc.html">2,2 million</a>, of whom 900 000 were <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/botswana-awaits-results-in-cliffhanger-election-20191023">registered to vote</a>.</p>
<p>The Botswana Democratic Party was uniquely vulnerable in this election. The party faced a <a href="https://city-press.news24.com/News/change-is-coming-opposition-parties-are-optimistic-as-botswana-votes-20191023">surging opposition</a> as well as the fact that it had been weakened by an internal split between former President Ian Khama (66) and the newly-elected President Mokgweetsi Masisi (58).</p>
<p>Khama handed the presidency and party leadership to his then vice president Masisi in <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-06-07-00-ian-khama-and-the-post-presidential-blues">April 2018</a>, planning on a smooth succession of leadership.</p>
<p>But, the relationship turned sour the following month when Masisi <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-botswana-arrests-ex-spy-boss">fired</a> the intelligence agency chief Isaac Kgosi, an ally of Khama. A year later, Masisi <a href="https://theconversation.com/elephants-reduced-to-a-political-football-as-botswana-brings-back-hunting-117615">overturned</a> Khama’s ban on hunting elephants.</p>
<p>Khama subsequently quit the Botswana Democratic Party and endorsed the opposition, a manoeuvre that risked cleaving votes from the ruling party’s heartland in the Central District where Khama is leader of the Bamangwato chieftainship. Khama is the son of Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of an independent Botswana. His father led the country from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-22/khama-family-botswana-political-royalty-faces-election-setback">1966 to 1980</a>.</p>
<p>Two major factors affected the outcome of the poll. The first was the crippling <a href="http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=83147&dir=2019/october/18">divisions</a> in the ranks of the opposition parties. The second was that the ruling party clung to power through, among other things, Masisi’s direct appeal to populism. </p>
<p>This included promising the military, police, and prison workers <a href="http://apanews.net/index.php/en/news/gamble-on-security-forces-salaries-could-backfire-for-botswana">salary increases</a> and ambitiously pledging to deliver <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=82032&dir=2019/august/02">new jobs</a> by building electric cars in Botswana. The party also benefited from the use of state media.</p>
<p>The governing party has retained power. But serious challenges lie ahead as it celebrates victory. At stake is Botswana’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/botswana-at-50-the-end-of-an-african-success-story-65349">glowing reputation for democracy and prosperity</a>.</p>
<h2>Poverty and inequality</h2>
<p>Botswana was one of the poorest countries <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=290791">in the world</a> at independence. The Botswana Democratic Party proved to be effective economic managers, drawing from the country’s vast wealth in diamond deposits. Diamonds account for 24% of the country’s <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/botswana/gdp-from-mining">GDP</a> and 73% of its <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/08/29/the-battle-of-botswanas-big-men">exports</a>. </p>
<p>Sir Seretse Khama played a <a href="https://theconversation.com/botswana-at-50-the-end-of-an-african-success-story-65349">crucial role</a> in attracting foreign aid and alliances. He depicted Botswana’s African majority rule as a prosperous alternative to the ideology of apartheid in South Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298709/original/file-20191025-173520-aio7cb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former President of Botswana Ian Khama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/ Felipe Trueba</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The party helped turn the country into the world’s fastest growing economy during its first four decades in power. But, the country’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/botswana/publication/botswana-poverty-assessment-december-2015">upper-middle income status</a> masks acute socio-economic disparities, high structural unemployment, and extreme poverty.</p>
<p>The state’s reliance on lucrative, but limited, export goods for revenue hinders more inclusive development. Botswana’s Gini index was measured at 53.3 in <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=BW">2015</a>, making it one of the most unequal societies in the world.</p>
<p>The country must also confront the long-term consequences of <a href="https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/botswana-hit-hard-by-climate-change-effects">climate change</a>. The government concedes Botswana’s food security is jeopardised by increasing crop failure and livestock mortality.</p>
<p>This is not a good time for Botswana to be dependent on diamonds, a finite resource vulnerable to global market downturns.</p>
<h2>Losing its sparkle</h2>
<p>Botswana’s democratic credentials are increasingly coming into question. It is yet to achieve a transfer of power from one party in government to another.</p>
<p>Khama willingly stood down as President at the end of his second term, as required by the Constitution. Nonetheless, the country must address the authoritarian legacies of his leadership style.</p>
<p>Khama’s government was accused of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/02/its-not-just-elephants-that-are-under-attack-in-botswana-duma-boko-masisi-khama/">intimidating</a> the media and political opponents, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/10/botswana-suspension-of-judges-potentially-threatens-freedom-of-expression-and-judicial-independence/">suspending</a> judges, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2014.993667">enlarging</a> the powers of intelligence agencies, and sanctioning <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/botswana">extra-judicial killings</a>. The new government should consider constitutional reforms to curb the executive powers of the Presidency and the potential for such abuses.</p>
<p>Botswana has effective institutional mechanisms to limit <a href="https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/fighting-corruption-botswana/">corruption</a>. But, the image of accountability is weakened by the centralisation of key anti-corruption bodies within the office of the President.</p>
<p>Another challenge will be to open up the political system to under-represented groups. Women have been represented in less than 10% of the seats in the National Assembly since <a href="https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/botswana/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS">2014</a>. Minority ethnic groups, like the <a href="https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11163">Basarwa</a>, do not have a sufficient platform to safeguard their interests.</p>
<p>The country was <a href="https://theconversation.com/botswana-court-ruling-is-a-ray-of-hope-for-lgbt-people-across-africa-118713">praised</a> by human rights groups after its High Court decriminalised gay sex in June. But the decision is being appealed by the country’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/06/botswana-government-to-appeal-against-law-legalising-gay-sex">attorney-general</a>. This raises doubts about the government’s commitment to upholding human rights. </p>
<h2>Looking to 2024</h2>
<p>There is an important lesson the Botswana Democratic Party can learn from the serious challenge it faced to its de facto one-party rule in the 2019 election. Political competition might just give the party some incentive to initiate policies that will benefit the unemployed and disadvantaged. This might help it retain power in future. </p>
<p>However, the personalised nature of the Masisi-Khama contest has somewhat distracted from core policy concerns and the needs of marginalised groups.</p>
<p>Unless that changes and the Botswana Democratic Party seriously addresses the country’s structural weaknesses, it may not survive another close contest in the 2024 general election. The Botswana Democratic Party’s biggest test is still to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Kirby receives funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, COFUND programme.</span></em></p>Serious challenges lie ahead for Botswana’s governing party as it celebrates retaining power.James Kirby, Junior Research Fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1187132019-06-12T14:11:59Z2019-06-12T14:11:59ZBotswana court ruling is a ray of hope for LGBT people across Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279163/original/file-20190612-32321-qestc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Botswana's LGBTI community is celebrating the decriminalisation of gay sex.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Botswana’s High Court has ruled that private consensual sex between adults of the same sex is <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/botswana-decriminalises-homosexuality-in-historic-court-ruling-25898215">no longer criminal</a>. The decision gives hope to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in African countries that still have similar laws in place. Most share a common history, with criminalisation finding its way into local law through British colonial penal codes inspired by <a href="https://study.com/academy/lesson/victorian-code-of-morality.html">Victorian-age morality</a>. In total, 32 African states <a href="https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/">still criminalise</a> same-sex acts.</p>
<p>Sixteen years ago, Botswana’s courts took a different view. Responding to a similar challenge, the High Court in 2003 invoked public morality to justify keeping these provisions of the Penal Code. This decision was confirmed by the Court of Appeal, <a href="http://www.elaws.gov.bw/desplaylrpage.php?id=1910&dsp=2">which found that</a> there was no evidence that the “approach and attitude” of the society “required a decriminalisation of those practices”. The Court did observe that the “time has not yet arrived to decriminalise homosexual practices even between consenting adult males in private”.</p>
<p>By placing less emphasis on public opinion, and questioning public morality as the basis of its decision, the latest High Court decision shows that times have indeed changed. </p>
<p>People who face human rights violations often turn to the judiciary on matters of changing morality, especially when issues are controversial. The scrapping of similar laws across the globe has often come about as a result of judicial decisions, as was the case <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/india-decriminalises-gay-sex-win-supreme-court-180907072522252.html">in India in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>But, pockets of resistance remain. Weeks ago, the Nairobi High Court <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/caselaw/cases/view/173946/">decided differently</a>. An appeal in this case is however pending. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/homosexuality-remains-illegal-in-kenya-as-court-rejects-lgbt-petition-112149">Homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya as court rejects LGBT petition</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What factors made this judgement possible? Are there lessons to take on board by the Kenyan Court of Appeal Kenya and other courts in Africa?</p>
<h2>Factors that led to change</h2>
<p>An important factor is that civil society prepared the ground by organising, over an extended period, the integration of LGBT issues – such as the risk and effects of HIV infection – into general human rights concerns.</p>
<p>The most prominent LGBT organisation in the country, <a href="https://legabibo.wordpress.com/">Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana</a>, has been around since 1998. In its foundation and growth, the organisation closely associated itself with two “mainstream” human rights organisations – <a href="https://www.eldis.org/organisation/A35588">Ditshwanelo - Botswana Centre for Human Rights</a> and <a href="https://www.bonela.org/">Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS</a>.</p>
<p>The organisation built a public profile and fostered broad collaboration. It sought but was denied official registration in 2005. But in the process, it involved a prominent public figure, former High Court <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130414234448/http:/www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=16588&GroupID=1">Judge Unity Dow</a>. It finally got official recognition in 2016 which enabled it to formally support the recent case, by acting as a <a href="https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Friend-of-the-court+brief">friend of the court</a>.</p>
<p>The state, through its three arms of government – legislature, executive and judiciary – also played its part, in various ways, by publicly recognising the equal dignity of LGBT persons.</p>
<p>In 2010, the legislature amended the <a href="https://www.icj.org/sogi-legislative-database/botswana-sogi-legislation-country-report-2013/">Employment Act</a>, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment. Similar laws exist in only a few African states, like <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/downloads/legislation/acts/employment-equity/eegazette2015.pdf">South Africa</a>, <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---ilo_aids/documents/legaldocument/wcms_361981.pdf">Mozambique</a> and the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/travail/docs/2100/Employment%20Act%201995%20-%20amended%20to%20Act%204%20of%202006%20-%20www.employment.gov.sc.pdf">Seychelles</a>.</p>
<p>The country’s courts also played a role in establishing that LGBT persons are protected under Botswana’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---ilo_aids/documents/legaldocument/wcms_125669.pdf">Constitution</a>. Apart from the ruling on Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana, which was confirmed by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30054459">Court of Appeal</a> the High Court made two crucial judgements. One included ruling that a refusal to change the gender markers in transgender persons’ identity documents violated a number of constitutional rights, including privacy, freedom of expression, and equal <a href="https://www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org/2017/09/29/press-release-botswana-high-court-rules-in-landmark-gender-identity-case/">protection of the law</a>. </p>
<p>But members of the executive made the most telling contribution in preparing the ground for the High Court’s favourable 11 June finding. In 2018, President Mokgweetsi Masisi <a href="https://www.mambaonline.com/2018/12/10/botswanas-new-president-acknowledges-lgbti-peoples-rights/">publicly acknowledged that</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>(people in same-sex relationships in Botswana) have been violated and have also suffered in silence for fear of being discriminated. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Former President Festus Mogae also <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/botswana/8839131/Botswana-should-decriminalise-homosexuality-says-former-president.html">urged</a> greater tolerance and acceptance of LGBT persons in the country, although he only did so after he had stood down. </p>
<p>Even former President Ian Khama, who was generally much more muted on the subject, ordered the arrest and deportation of a US pastor Steven Anderson in 2016 after he called for the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-botswana-lgbt-idUSKCN11Q1CS">killing of gays and lesbians</a>.</p>
<p>Other factors also promoted a favourable climate. One was HIV. Botswana was able to turn around a very high prevalence rate by focusing on making sure people had <a href="https://www.viivhealthcare.com/en-gb/our-stories/advancing-hiv-treatment-and-care/helping-botswana-treat-all-people-living-with-hiv/">access to treatment</a>, and through public debate that stimulated more open and honest discussions about sexuality. </p>
<p>All these factors contributed to greater acceptance among the general public. In a <a href="http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatches/ab_r6_dispatchno74_tolerance_in_africa_eng1.pdf">2014/15 survey</a> by Afrobarometer, the independent African research network, 43% of respondents in Botswana showed tolerance towards homosexuals. </p>
<h2>A landmark and precedent</h2>
<p>This decision is a landmark. It sets a precedent on which other African courts can rely. These includes the Kenyan Court of Appeal. But the situation in Kenya differs in important respects. Its political elite has not taken a public stance that accepts LGBT people. Also, the 2014/15 Afrobarometer survey put public acceptance of LGBT people in Kenya at <a href="http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatches/ab_r6_dispatchno74_tolerance_in_africa_eng1.pdf">only 14%</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/abolition-of-angolas-anti-gay-laws-may-pave-the-way-for-regional-reform-111432">Abolition of Angola's anti-gay laws may pave the way for regional reform</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The legal landscape also differs. Article 45(2) of <a href="http://www.kenyalaw.org/lex/actview.xql?actid=Const2010">Kenya’s Constitution </a> states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(adults have) the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of the parties.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This has been interpreted as a ban on same-sex relationships, and was pivotal in the recent Kenyan High Court decision.</p>
<p>Perhaps other southern African courts hold more promise. Of the seven most “tolerant” countries in the Afrobarometer survey, five are from southern Africa. They are South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Mauritius <a href="http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatches/ab_r6_dispatchno74_tolerance_in_africa_eng1.pdf">and Namibia</a>.</p>
<p>Laws criminalising consensual same-sex relations have been scrapped in South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana. But they remain in place in Mauritius and Namibia. These two countries seem to provide fertile ground for the next challenges to eventually ensure that Africa is rid of colonial relics that continue to deny the full humanity and citizenship of many people on the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frans Viljoen works for the University of Pretoria. He has received funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>By placing less emphasis on public opinion, and questioning public morality as the basis of its decision, the latest High Court decision shows that times have indeed changed.Frans Viljoen, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/992202018-07-03T15:20:59Z2018-07-03T15:20:59ZDRC faces upsurge of violence unless a deal is done with Kabila<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225890/original/file-20180703-116152-zmz6ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Kabila’s time in government has shown an inability to bring together the various ethnic groups. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Michael Kappeler</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/29/dr-congo-repression-persists-election-deadline-nears">fresh wave of civil unrest</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the international community must question its confidence in President Joseph Kabila to achieve stability in a turbulent region. He has been at the helm since he took over as president in 2001 after his father, Laurent, was assassinated. The young Kabila ruled for a transitional period until 2006, before winning two elections. </p>
<p>He is now in his seventh year of what should have been just five years of his second term and is constitutionally barred from standing again. But he has remained in office after his mandate ended in late 2016. This, as the country awaits a long-delayed election. The delay has sparked deadly protests. </p>
<p>While Kabila cannot legally stand for a third term, the <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/06/05/drc-opposition-enraged-as-pro-kabila-campaign-clip-appears-on-social-media//">opposition is concerned that he might</a>. Fears among opposition and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-20/court-shakeup-fuels-fears-that-congo-s-leader-plans-another-term">church leaders</a> have been further fuelled by Kabila’s appointment of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-20/court-shakeup-fuels-fears-that-congo-s-leader-plans-another-term">three new judges</a> to the constitutional court. Two are well-known allies. </p>
<p>But Kabila has no legitimacy and his authority is disintegrating. If the elections are delayed again there’s a real possibility that central Africa will slide into violent conflict once again. The armed violence is likely to be bloodier than in the past due to the number of fragmented localised groups aiming to grab their slice in one of the world’s most resource-rich countries.</p>
<p>If the international community wants to avoid another major armed conflict on the African content – in addition to the outstanding conflicts in Libya, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan – urgent action is needed to negotiate with Kabila for his own peaceful exit before the country slides back into full-scale armed conflict. </p>
<h2>Deteriorating situation</h2>
<p>In the wake of Kabila’s refusal to cede power, the security situation has deteriorated. At least 10 of Congo’s 26 provinces are in the grip of armed <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/02/15/congos-war-was-bloody.-it-may-be-about-to-start-again">conflict</a>. This has forced over two million people to flee their homes, 800,000 of them children. The total number of internally displaced people is <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/unicef-drc-humanitarian-situation-report-april-2018">estimated to be 4.5 million</a> while refugees are flocking into Uganda, Tanzania, Angola and Zambia. </p>
<p>The security situation in the DRC is dire. As the violence in Kasai and eastern parts of the <a href="https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/07/31/briefing-conflict-kasai-drc">country intensifies</a>, escalating conflict in south eastern Congo looks set to continue. </p>
<p>More than <a href="http://congoresearchgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Landscape-of-Armed-Groups-in-Eastern-Congo1.pdf">70 rebel groups</a> are estimated to be <a href="http://ucdp.uu.se/#/exploratory">operating</a> in the country. They are all variously involved in skirmishes with the army or, more commonly, prey on civilians. This in turn creates a tangle of ethnic and tribal grievances for warlords to exploit.</p>
<p>In 2012, the M23 rebel <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20405739">movement</a> briefly took the city of Goma. They were eventually thrown out by the Congolese army, supported by the UN. But the current violence in Kasai is threatening to overshadow even that disaster. In August 2017, for example, the <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/drc-opposition-mounts-dead-city-protest-against-kabila-20170808">“dead city” movements</a> ensured that significant parts of the country’s urban population went on strike.</p>
<p>Some reports have suggested that more than <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/keeping-watch-kasai-congo">3,000 people</a> have been killed since the start of 2017. More than <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/angola/over-33000-refugees-fled-violence-dr-congo-angola-people-need-helps-water-sanitation">33,000</a> Kasai residents have fled <a href="http://www.msf.org/en/article/angola-people-camp-had-one-goal-stay-alive">into Angola</a>. It has been suggested that the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/kamwina-nsapu-rebels-drc-un-investigators-589469">Bana Mura</a> - a government sponsored militia - was behind the violence. </p>
<p>Last year major fighting <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2017/10/59eefe3e4/unhcr-warns-worsening-displacement-democratic-republic-congo.html">occurred</a> between Twa and Bantu populations in Tanganyika province. And as the year entered its last quarter, Uvira, on the outskirts of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-violence/congo-naval-boats-battle-rebels-on-lake-tanganyika-idUSKCN1C31DJ">Lake Tanganyika</a>, was the site for fighting between the rebel Yakutumba militia and government forces. Government forces fled and the rebels would have taken the city had they not been <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/02/15/congos-war-was-bloody.-it-may-be-about-to-start-again">repulsed by Pakistani peacekeepers</a>.</p>
<p>Despite a failure by the Yakutumba militia to take Uvira, it was a reminder of the level of dissatisfaction rising in the east, since the end of the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dr-congo-5-questions-understand-africas-world-war-1524722">Second Congo War</a> in 2003. The rise of rebels operating in the east means violence could potentially spread to Kivu and beyond.</p>
<h2>Uncertain times ahead</h2>
<p>In 2017, presidential and legislative elections were delayed despite the Catholic Church <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/deal-finalised-peaceful-political-transition-drc-161231182050153.html">reaching a deal</a> with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/16/delayed-drc-elections-could-be-put-back-further-by-cash-shortage">Kabila</a>. The political crisis was further complicated by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/africa/etienne-tshisekedi-dead-congo-opposition.html">death</a> of long-standing opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi later in the year.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-primeminister-exclusive/congo-election-remains-on-track-for-december-says-prime-minister-idUSKCN1GK1F9">election</a> planned for December this year is unlikely to bring together the various groups or solve the outbreak of violence in the country. The most likely candidate with the perceived ability to bring together the different groups is Moïse Katumbi. He has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-12/congo-opposition-forms-coalition-before-presidential-elections">succeeded</a> in rallying together opposition parties into a coalition backing his candidacy – an impressive feat in a country as fragmented as the Congo. </p>
<p>He also has by far the best broad plan to reconcile the country, which is what the country needs if the fragile peace is going to hold. But the country’s attorney general announced recently that Katumbi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/04/drc-opposition-leader-may-be-barred-from-elections-over-italian-citizenship">may not be eligible to stand</a> in presidential elections because he held Italian citizenship from October 2000 until January 2017. </p>
<p>Under Congo’s constitution, its nationals cannot hold <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-congo-politics/congo-opposition-leader-held-italian-citizenship-for-16-years-town-says-idUKKCN1HB18B">dual citizenship</a> and have to petition the government to regain their citizenship if they take up a foreign nationality. But the provision, however, is loosely enforced and many prominent politicians are believed to have second citizenships.</p>
<p>Kabila’s time in government has shown an inability to bring together the various ethnic groups and to control the growth of dissatisfied rebel groups. This is despite the fact that the DRC has the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, numbering <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/monusco">18,000 blue helmets</a>, who try to enforce a measure of calm in the east of the country. </p>
<p>Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6WXCr9DAU">said</a> that he hopes to see a commitment from Kabila to <a href="https://www.iiss.org/en/events/events/archive/2018-41aa/april-6332/peace-and-stability-in-africa-botswanas-perspective-da7f">leave office at year’s end</a>. More African leaders need to acknowledge the gravity of the crisis and apply pressure on Kabila through existing African Union mechanisms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99220/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew E. Yaw Tchie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African leaders need to acknowledge the gravity of the Congo crisis and apply pressure on Kabila.Andrew E. Yaw Tchie, Conflict and Policy Advisor on Syria, Senior Visiting Research Follow Kings College London Centre for Conflict and Health, Visiting Researcher at PRIO, and PhD Candidate at University of Essex., University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.