On July 1, government held an event at the National Assembly grounds, to commemorate the country’s founding president and Khama’s father.
The event was celebrated under the theme, ‘Remembering Sir Seretse Khama: The Framing of Democracy, Peace and Good Governance as Attributes Nation Building’.
The event was officiated by Masisi and attended by amongst others Vice President Slumber Tsogwane, Cabinet ministers, Chief Justice, Members of Parliament, senior citizens, members of the civil society, trade unions, senior government, and members of the diplomatic corps.
However, a notable absentee was the former president and Seretse’s son, Ian Khama who made a last-minute announcement that he would not attend the event and lambasted Masisi’s government for “milking his name and legacy in the hope of reaping some benefit from someone he does not actually respect”. Masisi and Khama have been locked in an unending feud since the former ascended the presidency in 2018, which ultimately forced Khama into a self-imposed exile in South Africa.
Whilst Seretse Khama Day commemoration was seen as a chance for the two to make peace after Masisi invited Khama to the occasion, it was not to be as the former president attacked government. Khama said he reconsidered his earlier decision of accepting Masisi’s invitation due to government’s reluctance to assure him that he would not be subjected to any harassment. Khama said he abandoned due to high risk after getting tipped “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”. Khama said the invitation by Masisi was insincere and thanked people who urged him not to trust Masisi.
“It is truly an eye-opener how there is a total lack of faith and trust in him and the regime by so many Batswana. And today, July 1, after an unprecedented build-up to the day through government statements and media, there will be insincere tributes paid by Masisi to Sir Seretse, milking his name and legacy in the hope of reaping some benefit from someone he does not actually respect,” Khama said.
He said it was hypocritical that this commemoration happened whilst government continues its persecution of Sir Seretse’s family and prevented similar commemoration activities in Serowe. Before the commemoration, the cat-and-mouse enmity between the Masisi and Khama was continuing. While Khama was supposedly planning to come home to attend the event to honour Masisi's invitation, international media was awash with news stories countering the ‘media strategy’ employed by Khama.
In what they term an effort to protect Botswana’s political stability and economic interests, the Office of the President (OP) hosted international journalists at Big Valley Game Lodge in Lobatse.
The project included interviews with government officials and a series of press conferences seeking to address the former president's continuous “sabotage of the current government and the dissemination of false information”. Meanwhile, speaking during the commemoration, Masisi said the occasion was an opportunity to remember the difficult times that Botswana passed through and how through the leadership of Seretse Khama the country overcame them. Masisi stated that Seretse Khama’s pronouncement on the issue of unity, which is both a means and an outcome of the ever-unfolding project of nation-building was that unity in Botswana will not be achieved by legislation, but by consultation and consensus.
“Given this insightful view by Seretse, the totality of our thoughts, behaviours, actions, choices, interpersonal relations, and institutional lives and practices define the kind of nation that we are, and whether it is a desirable one in which to live,” Masisi said.
