I have not been to church in a few years because of the unrelenting fury and after effects of COVID-19. Yes, COVID-19 has pushed us farther away from church and government has failed to acknowledge this and duly put the right programmes in place to deal with such after-effects.
Us victims (yes I am one) are in a huge struggle akin to passengers on a sinking ship with no lifeboats. If you don’t believe pastors have been ordained to lead political parties, think about Pastor Biggie Butale who is the leader of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) BPF and Reverend Dr Prince Dibeela who is the leader of Botswana Labour Party (BLP) and you begin to see a pattern.
God has decided that this nation is in need of serious divine intervention and has sent three of his begotten sons to save his people. Of course, with Pastor Butale the situation is quite fluid and has to be monitored on a weekly basis like the oscillation of the Zim Dollar in the early 2000s but I believe this column will reach the reader on the week the court has declared him president. And of course the subsequent week things might be very different and a higher court could well have pushed him into the midst of ordinary party members.
Pastor Thuso Tiego’s ascendance to the top echelons of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) has actually solved a vexing social studies/history question in schools that students and teachers alike have been struggling with: ‘Who is the president of BMD?’ The eminent pastor is a breath of fresh air in our political landscape. Ok, I admit I have nothing to back up this claim but usually these are the words that are used when someone new enters the fray. But hold on, this is a man of action. That I can vouch for.
There was a time when he got tired of Oriental goods and closed a few Chinese shops at the BBS mall. There was a time when he had a March In Machesa to ask the president to resign within seven days. It would be interesting to see if this remains his rallying cry. He immediately sprang into action and started firing salvos like confetti at the ruling party.
He accused the ruling party of not being serious as they can post a picture of a beautiful woman on their Facebook page with no contact information or any other information for that matter. In his view, the hungry lot need the contacts of the beauty queen to satiate their metaphorical hunger. Some have dismissed the new leader as someone who needs mental floss to sanitise his brain.
But it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Being a politician is a seething, babbling mass of confusion that can be very scary and you half expect to be run over by your own supporters. Politics could probably present a friendlier face to new entrants but it is not like that. Of course a certain amount of tension is inevitable when you have a myriad of political parties - with new ones washing ashore every hour - all attempting to co-exist in a relatively small, confined area that is also extremely popular with apathetic voters.
Each of these parties has its own cherished solutions, with the most cherished solutions, being that everybody ELSE's solution, is wrong. Good luck to the pastor. The Lord watches over you. (For comments, feedback and insults email [email protected]) Thulaganyo Jankey is a training consultant who runs his own training consultancy that provides training in BQA- accredited courses. His other services include registering consultancies with BQA and developing training courses. Contact him on 74447920 or email [email protected].
