The social media, the daily press, BOFEPUSU official statements, sing from the same hymnbook. The recent Good Hope-Mabule bye-election results have significantly upped the noise: ‘BCP should join the Umbrella or the party will be history.’ With the ruling party stubbornly on the saddle by means foul and fair, the media role in the battle for ‘regime change’ seems irrepressible. With the state media four-square behind the ruling party applause of the private media ‘regime change’ role seems pertinent.
The private media qualifies to be the voice of the voiceless. The voiceless Botswana masses, denied voice by their substandard political knowledge and MPs and Councilors who aren’t up to scratch, one appreciates the private media enthusiasm for trying to find a niche in the political set-up for itself. However in the multiparty democracy scenario in which the media operates, where checks and balances are only stipulated between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, the media must carefully determine its role and not overshoot its moving target, in the whirligig of the dynamics of local politics. The Enthusiasm and impatience shouldn’t blur its focus and vision.
