tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/ian-khama-31305/articlesIan Khama – La 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>
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<p>I have come to realise that I have maybe misjudged him. </p>
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<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>
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<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>
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<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">
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<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>
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<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>
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<p>I was the most abused vice-president.</p>
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<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>
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<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">
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<span class="caption">Former President of Botswana Ian Khama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/ Felipe Trueba</span></span>
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<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>
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</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/899802018-01-22T15:43:51Z2018-01-22T15:43:51ZStability in southern Africa hinges on how leaders gain and lose power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202402/original/file-20180118-29900-1tmlu4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters demand Congolese President Joseph Kabila step down.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Thomas Mukoya</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While each country in Southern Africa has its own politics, recent developments involving presidents provide interesting contrasts across the region. Which presidents gain and lose power in 2018 – and how they do so – will have significance for the region as a whole, not least in helping determine its continued stability.</p>
<p>As 2018 begins, Joseph Kabila is clinging to the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), claiming that there is insufficient funding to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/16/delayed-drc-elections-could-be-put-back-further-by-cash-shortage">hold an election</a>, amid <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/53-protesters-killed-over-six-months-in-drc-report-20171121">growing protests</a> against him in Kinshasa and elsewhere. It remains to be seen if he will fulfil the undertaking he has made that elections will be held in <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/kabila-at-un-pledges-drc-elections-but-still-no-date-20170923">December this year</a>.</p>
<p>Other countries in the region start 2018 on a much more promising footing. In Botswana, President Ian Khama, approaching the end of his two presidential terms, is expected to step down in an <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2017/11/09/botswana-president-says-he-will-step-down-at-the-end-of-his-term-in-april//">orderly succession</a> in April and will be suceeded by the vice-president.</p>
<p>In both Zimbabwe and Angola autocratic presidents who had been in power for almost four decades lost power in 2017 in very different ways.</p>
<h2>Military intervention in Zimbabwe</h2>
<p>In the case of Zimbabwe the country’s army intervened in November 2017 to force Robert Mugabe to <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwe-beware-the-military-is-looking-after-its-own-interests-not-democracy-87712">give up power</a>. This came after he had, under the influence of his wife Grace, sacked Emmerson Mnangagwa <a href="https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2017/11/07/vp-mnangagwa-fired">as vice-president</a>. The Southern African Development Community did not need to intervene, and even the mediation mission it planned wasn’t required.</p>
<p>Instead, the Zimbabwe military acted, with the ruling party, Zanu-PF, to replace Mugabe with Mnangagwa. It did so peacefully, denying during the entire process that a coup was underway. The 93-year-old Mugabe, in office since 1980, initially refused to step down, but was finally removed both as president of the <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2017-11-21-breaking--zimbabwes-president-robert-mugabe-has-resigned/">country and of the ruling party</a>.</p>
<p>The country will go to the polls in <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/05/earliest-election-date-july-23-2018/">mid-2018</a>, and Mnangagwa, who was confirmed in December 2017 as Zanu-PF’s presidential candidate, has said that the election will be credible, <a href="http://nehandaradio.com/2017/12/16/mnangagwa-promises-free-fair-elections/">free and fair</a>, but he has yet to confirm that he will allow international and other observers.</p>
<p>With the military more obviously involved in government than anywhere else in the region, Zimbabwe’s opposition parties divided, and with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/morgan-tsvangirai-seriously-ill-11532872">seriously ill</a>, there is little likelihood that Zanu-PF or Mnangagwa will lose power.</p>
<h2>Angola</h2>
<p>In Angola José Eduardo dos Santos, suffering from ill-health, agreed in early 2017 to step down as president of the country. He nominated a man he thought would be a trusted successor, hoping to continue to wield influence as president of the ruling MPLA.</p>
<p>After elections for the National Assembly in August, <a href="https://theconversation.com/angolas-ruling-party-regains-power-but-faces-legitimacy-questions-83983">João Lourenço duly succeeded Dos Santos</a> as president. To widespread surprise, he began sacking the heads of some of the country’s key institutions. These included Dos Santos’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos, who was <a href="https://qz.com/1130420/africas-richest-woman-has-been-fired-from-angolas-state-oil-firm-by-the-new-president/">CEO of the state oil company Sonangol</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202404/original/file-20180118-29885-i4krt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, left, and his successor Joao Lourenco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Manuel de Almeida</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And in early 2018 her brother José Filomeno dos Santos, was removed as head of Angola’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42638761">sovereign wealth fund</a>. Their father’s influence was rapidly slipping away.</p>
<p>In Angola, as in Zimbabwe, a change of leader to one with a more reformist approach probably means that the ruling party has consolidated itself in power.</p>
<h2>South Africa</h2>
<p>In South Africa in December 2017 the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) passed <a href="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1762486/breaking-cyril-ramaphosa-is-the-new-anc-president/">from Jacob Zuma to Cyril Ramaphosa</a>, who thus became heir apparent to the presidency of the country. While there is no two-term limit for ANC presidents, Zuma had brought the ANC into discredit and Ramaphosa, despite having worked closely with Zuma as deputy president, was seen as the one who would curtail the corruption and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-threat-to-south-africas-democracy-runs-deeper-than-state-capture-78784">“state capture”</a>.</p>
<p>For now, Zuma remains president of the country until general elections due to be held by June 2019. The country waits to see whether, how and when Ramaphosa can <a href="https://theconversation.com/ramaphosa-should-end-the-presidential-merry-go-round-in-south-africa-90116">arrange to take over</a> as president of the country as well as of the ruling party.</p>
<h2>A presidential challenge defeated</h2>
<p>In Namibia, <a href="http://links.org.au/node/4190">Hage Geingob</a> had to meet a challenge to his continuing as leader of Swapo, the governing party, in <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2017/07/10/swapo-elders-endorse-geingob-as-swapo-presidential-candidate/">November last year</a>. He was, however, confirmed in his position and will therefore be Swapo’s presidential candidate for the election scheduled to take place in November 2019.</p>
<p>Geingob supporters now fill all the key posts in his government, enabling him to make policy as he wishes. This is very different from South Africa, where the new ANC leadership remains divided and where Ramaphosa, when he becomes president of the country, will find it difficult to <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/when-will-zuma-go-its-a-matter-of-time-20171224-3">adopt new policies</a>.</p>
<h2>Malawi and Zambia</h2>
<p>Malawi must hold elections <a href="http://www.mec.org.mw/category/Steps_towards_2019.html">in 2019</a> and the contest for the presidency then has already begun. It is not known whether Joyce Banda, the former president and leader of one of the country’s leading political parties, will <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2015/12/30/malawi-why-wont-joyce-banda-come-home-2/">return from self-imposed exile</a> abroad to stand again. In 2017 she was formally charged with having been involved in the massive <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/malawi-issues-warrant-of-arrest-for-former-president-banda-20170731">“Cashgate’ corruption scandal”</a> that was uncovered while she was president.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202406/original/file-20180118-29888-1qdqaf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zambian President Edgar Lungu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters//Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Zambia, by contrast, where the next election is not due until 2021, the question is how Edgar Lungu, who took over the presidency after narrowly winning the presidential election in August 2016, will try to consolidate his power. </p>
<p>In 2017 Lungu became <a href="https://theconversation.com/lungu-tries-to-have-his-cake-and-eat-it-a-state-of-emergency-in-all-but-name-80628">more authoritarian</a>. Hakainde Hichilema, the leader of the main opposition United Party for National Development, was arrested on what were clearly trumped-up charges. These were only <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/08/16/knew-hhs-treason-charge-trumped-antonio-mwanza/">dropped in August</a> after interventions by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and inside Zambia by the <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/09/20/real-reasons-hh-released-jail/">local Catholic Archbishop</a>.</p>
<p>Lungu wants to serve a <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/11/05/no-third-term-president-lungu-gbm/">third term as president</a>, and the country’s Constitutional Court has been asked to <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/africa/2017-11-10-is-zambia-headed-for-a-constitutional-crisis/">rule on the matter</a>.</p>
<h2>Regional perspective</h2>
<p>Too often developments in one country are seen in isolation from similar ones elsewhere. Given that South Africa is the most important country in the region, how the Ramaphosa-Zuma poser is resolved will be significant for the region. Elsewhere, how presidents gain and lose, and try to consolidate their power, will help shape the continued stability of the region. </p>
<p>Will political tensions be managed internally, as in Zimbabwe in late 2017? Or will they require some kind of intervention by the Southern Africa Development Community, in the DRC and perhaps elsewhere, to prevent them from escalating? Throughout the region, contests for presidential power are likely to keep political passions on the boil.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Saunders 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>Too often developments in one country are seen in isolation. In southern Africa events in one affect others in the region.Chris Saunders, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/653492016-09-20T12:18:14Z2016-09-20T12:18:14ZBotswana at 50: The end of an African success story?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138105/original/image-20160916-16988-1dc3n5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President of Botswana Ian Khama. He leads a country that's lost the shine created by his father Seretse Khama.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Alejandro Ernesto</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>September 2016 marked 50 years since Botswana <a href="http://www.officeholidays.com/countries/botswana/botswana_day.php">attained independence</a> from British rule. Over the decades, the small landlocked country has been regarded as a role model for <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/botswana-role-model-country-success">success</a> in Africa. It has achieved political <a href="http://internationalpropertyrightsindex.org/country?c=BOTSWANA">stability</a>, democratic <a href="http://static.moibrahimfoundation.org/u/2015/10/02201308/04_Botswana.pdf">government</a>, and remarkable <a href="https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_kd_zg&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=country:BWA&ifdim=region&hl=en&ind=false&icfg">economic growth</a>. </p>
<p>The attraction of Botswana and its history is newly reinforced in the film ‘<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3387266/">A United Kingdom</a>.’ The <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/55734/colour-bar/">story</a> begins more than 15 years before independence when the territory was known as the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The plot follows the marriage of <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/president-seretse-khama">Seretse Khama</a>, a royal African prince, to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37297708">Ruth Williams</a>, a white British woman. </p>
<p>The apartheid regime was outraged and exerted political pressure on the British, who held important mining interests in South Africa. To ease tensions, the British forced Seretse into exile in England from <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13041658">1950 to 1956</a>. He was only allowed to return to Botswana after abdicating his claim to the chiefdom. </p>
<p>Seretse would later enter party politics in the early 1960s, leading the then <a href="https://www.eisa.org.za/wep/bot1965overview.htm">Bechuanaland Democratic Party</a> to victory in 1965 and independence the following year.</p>
<p>For a global audience, the movie provides a topical account of race relations. The love story is also likely to revitalize the <a href="https://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/31864654/botswana-is-the-best-place-to-visit-in-2016/#page1">popular perception</a> of Botswana as a national <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=290791">success story</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pX5vI4osR50?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A United Kingdom (2016), directed by Amma Asante, and starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 50-year anniversary was a time for Botswana to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bot50/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED">celebrate</a>. But now is the time to reflect on the historical context for this imagery and question whether it has relevance for modern-day Botswana. </p>
<h2>The building of a tiny country</h2>
<p>Geopolitically and economically Botswana was one of the weakest countries to ever gain freedom from colonial rule. Its <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00291958408552111?journalCode=sgeo20">landlocked position</a> was ominous. It bordered white minority regimes in South Africa, South-West Africa (Namibia) and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). South Africa, occupying the main trading route, could readily intimidate Botswana with crippling sanctions and violent incursions. </p>
<p>Diplomacy was difficult. Relations with the apartheid regime in South Africa required a tightrope walk between economic cooperation and political distance. Botswana’s post-colonial leadership was slow to build wider credibility within the <a href="http://www.au.int/en/history/oau-and-au">Organisation of African Unity</a>. Overly reliant on British aid, the country was in desperate need of economic partners and diplomatic connections further abroad. </p>
<p>External onlookers doubted Botswana’s viability and its capacity to resist South African pressure. In defiance, Seretse upheld a vision of security and <a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7720&t=79">prosperity</a> in a non-racial democracy. </p>
<p>He insisted all individuals were entitled to political freedoms and individual protections, without racial discrimination. These values appeared ambitious to uphold in a young developing state. But they soon proved to be a vital asset.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Seretse Khama, video interview by Adrian Porter, Independent Television News (ITN) reports, 17 March 1965.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Regarded as noble and sincere, Seretse thrived in multilateral forums and bilateral meetings. His country had qualities that appeared exceptional and therefore worthy of assistance. There was even a convincing proposal that Botswana could encourage a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=477945378954792&id=148228411926492">wider transformation</a> throughout Southern Africa. </p>
<h2>Seretse’s winning strategy</h2>
<p>Seretse’s argument was simple. Apartheid relied on the notion that multi-racialism could not work in southern Africa. To challenge this, peacefully, Botswana needed to present a thriving alternative.</p>
<p>The more aid Botswana received, the more of a success it could become. And the more it could be seen as a success, the more it would undermine the ideology of apartheid. This was not purely a form of wishful idealism. Instead, it proved to be a practical response for a country that upheld the integrity of its principles.</p>
<p>The approach had its greatest appeal in the U.S. It inspired diplomats, politicians, scholars and anti-apartheid activists. In the following decade, Botswana became one of the <a href="http://us-foreign-aid.insidegov.com/l/22/Botswana">highest recipients</a> of U.S. foreign aid per capita. </p>
<p>Effective leadership and policymaking were also crucial. This was best demonstrated in Botswana’s effective management of a rich mining boom in <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/06/29/483695466/botswana-s-economy-needs-more-than-diamonds-to-shine">diamonds</a>.</p>
<p>Despite Botswana’s apparent achievements, the territory’s external security could not be guaranteed for many decades. Botswana accepted refugees provided they did not use its territory as a base to advance liberation struggles. But without an army until 1977, it was powerless to stop deadly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/world/pretoria-s-forces-raid-3-neighbors-in-move-on-rebels.html">incursions</a> by South African and Rhodesian security forces chasing suspected freedom fighters. </p>
<p>Yet Botswana’s great appeal, especially in North America and Western Europe, proved to be its own form of defense. Botswana could rely on almost universal <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/11176/69574">diplomatic protests</a> toward any act of provocation. </p>
<p>The nation would outlive the neighboring powers that once posed a threat to its existence.</p>
<p>Seretse, who died in 1980, ultimately proved that multi-racialism was possible in the region. </p>
<h2>Botswana today</h2>
<p>With these white minority regimes now long gone, Botswana has lost its claim to exceptionalism. Today, there are valid reasons to <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21688387-africas-exemplar-good-governance-faces-rockier-days-losing-its-sparkle">question</a> Botswana’s “success.” The Botswana Democratic Party has remained in power since independence. President Ian Khama, Seretse’s son, shows <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/17/trouble-paradise-botswana-journalist">increasing signs</a> of authoritarianism. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/africa/botswana">Homosexuality is illegal and the San</a>, an indigenous hunter-gatherer population, face appalling levels of discrimination.</p>
<p>Growth is <a href="http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/AEO_2016_Report_Full_English.pdf">slowing</a> in an economy that has failed to diversify away from <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-05/diamonds-aren-t-forever-for-botswana-as-mining-boom-fades-away">diamonds</a>. More worrying, Botswana’s supply is expected to run out within the next two decades. </p>
<p>As the nation reached 50, the historical context of Botswana’s “success” reveals it to be an outstanding example of image-building in circumstances where survival was tied to international visibility. </p>
<p>Botswana may be reasonably depicted as a “United Kingdom” that triumphed because of its inspiring message of interracial unity. Nonetheless, the portrait of success is outdated. It is unlikely to be revived for future anniversaries without substantial improvements in economic progress, human rights and social justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Kirby has received scholarship funding from the Australian government under the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and a research grant from La Trobe University.</span></em></p>For a global audience, the movie ‘A United Kingdom’ provides a topical account of race relations. The love story is likely to revitalize the popular viewpoint of Botswana as a national success story.James Kirby, PhD candidate in History, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.