Botswana’s ex-president Ian Khama skips father’s commemoration because of a ‘planned hit’

An empty chair stood out in the packed VIP marquee at Gaborone’s parliament grounds as Botswana marked and celebrated Sir Seretse Khama Day on the weekend.

It was a chair meant for Botswana’s former president and Sir Seretse Khama’s eldest son Ian Khama, claimed he decided to skip the event due to an alleged hit planned on him.

Ian Khama claimed to have learnt that there were DIS officers being beefed up at points of entry in anticipation of his return.

“As if this was not enough, I was informed by very reliable sources here in South Africa that there was a DIS authorised plan to carry out a hit on me on my way to the border. And if that plan was abandoned due to high risk, then to carry out something similar at the border when I arrived and to stage a scuffle in which a fatal accident would occur against my person,” Khama said in his statement.

He also stated that the Botswana government had refused to grant him assurances that he wouldn’t be harassed if he attended the event.

Ian Khama, who is in self-imposed exile in South Africa, was expected to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony alongside his successor, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, on Saturday morning.

Ian Khama had accepted Masisi’s invitation.

To him (Khama) the current president was just his ball boy. He expected to be running the country, the state from the grave. The man thought he was going to control the current president and when he saw it was not happening, he was annoyed.

—  Botswana minister for state president, Kabo Morwaeng\

As the event unfolded, Ian Khama’s foundation’s Facebook page was a hive of activity as the former president published a statement citing his reasons for not attending.

Ian Khama also alleged in his Facebook post that, despite a recent high court ruling that granted his staff access to his official residence in Gaborone, the Botswana directorate of intelligence and security (DIS) had allegedly defied the court order.

“This week, after the deadline given by the latest judgment passed, the DIS continued to refuse such access and even embarked upon illegally removing my private belongings. Apparently, they did this so that I should not have somewhere to stay upon my return,” stated Ian Khama.

He said this was “the first indication that the invitation was extended in bad faith”.

Masisi and Khama are embroiled in a conflict that has dominated recent politics in the diamond-rich Southern African country. This is despite Khama having endorsed and supported the presidency of Masisi, his former deputy.

Masisi’s government has labelled the former president “a power-hungry despot that wants to rule from the grave”.

After unsuccessful interventions by Botswana elders and Khama’s recently produced dossier which accused Masisi’s government of extrajudicial killings and undemocratic practices, the Botswana government accused Khama of refusing to accept that he’s no longer in power.

Three Botswana ministers — foreign affairs, defence and security and state president’s office — addressed the media in Gaborone, just days before Saturday’s Sir Seretse Khama Day celebrations.

Kabo Morwaeng, Botswana’s minister for state president, said the “genesis of the fallout” between Khama and Masisi centred on the former president’s wishes for his younger brother Tshekedi Khama to be appointed as Masisi’s deputy president not materialising in 2018.

“It [appointment of Tshekedi] was his [Ian Khama’s] demand, he wanted that ... because he knew that appointing his younger brother the vice-president, he [Tshekedi] was automatically going to be the president of the republic,” Morwaeng told the media in Gaborone last week.

He accused Khama, now a patron of a breakaway opposition party, Botswana Patriotic Front, of becoming “annoyed” when Masisi did not consult him when appointing his cabinet.

Morwaeng said Khama was fired from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) by Masisi for ill-discipline.

He said Khama had demanded to be the face of the BDP ahead of the previous general elections.

Khama and Masisi were close political associates and comrades with the former president having hand-picked him as his successor and endorsed his presidency, however, they have recently become staunch enemies.

Morwaeng said Khama wanted to control Masisi and turn him into his “ball boy”.

“To him [Khama] the current president was just his ball boy. He expected to be running the country, the state, from the grave. The man thought he was going to control the current president, and when he saw it was not happening, he was annoyed,” Morwaeng said.

Morwaeng said Botswana elders tried on four occasions over the years to reconcile the two but failed.

The late Sir Seretse Khama, the first prime minister and president of postcolonial Botswana, is considered Botswana’s founding father with his birthday, July 1, dubbed Sir Seretse Khama Day, a public holiday where his legacy is commemorated and celebrated.

Masisi, who delivered the keynote address at the commemoration, said the people of Botswana should “recognise that the greatest enemy of unity, harmony and peace is the experience of social inequalities and disadvantage, and exclusion and discriminatory practices”.

“When some people become engulfed by the perceptions of victimhood, or experience material deprivations, it becomes easy for some demagogues to step into the public space with disuniting messages or narratives.

“Usually, the agenda would be manipulating and fuelling social tensions through propounding and disseminating sectarian interests,” Masisi said.