In Botswana, the government did a fairly good job of controlling the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation despite obvious challenges.
The government was able to ensure that the supply of most essential goods such as food and medication, which are mostly imported from South Africa, was not affected. Except for petroleum, which ran out for a few months leading to abnormally long queues at fuel stations and forcing the government to ration it, almost all essential goods were available in the shops. For a few months, the government also subsidised salaries of some citizen employees in the private sector. It also pleaded with private companies to be compassionate and not to resort to layoff or retrenchment of staff. The government also provided food rations to disadvantaged citizens who could not provide for themselves. Among these were street vendors who were hit hardest by the lockdown, and mostly with no alternative sources of income. President Masisi set up a Presidential COVID-19 Task Force consisting, among others, of leading experts in infectious diseases in Botswana who reported directly to him in assisting the government on tackling the spread of the pandemic through lockdowns, and provided regular updates on the COVID-19 situation (for example see Figure 1). It also played an important role in countering the stigmatisation of people who tested positive for the virus.
The number of people attending funerals, weddings and church services was greatly curtailed in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. Moreover, and critical to this study, the government set up a COVID-19 Relief Fund with an investment of P2 billion as seed money. The President pleaded with private individuals, business entities, the civil society and others to donate funds in cash or in-kind for the war against COVID-19. Many individuals, corporate entities, and civil society groups made contributions to the COVID-19 Relief Fund. For instance, public universities namely the underfunded University of Botswana (UB) and Botswana International University for Science and Technology (BIUST) rose to the occasion by manufacturing PPEs, sanitisers, drones and others, which were donated to the national COVID-19 effort.
This gained the two universities plaudits from the general public with some social media commentators slamming private universities of failing to assist the nation in a time of desperate need. The fact that some Indian-owned private tertiary institutions were even retrenching staff or suspending salaries led to some members of the public calling for an end of provision of tertiary education by private institutions as they were seen as hell-bent on profiteering at the expense of employees. It was also argued that these institutions benefit only their owners and their captured political associates while offering education of suspect quality to students (Sunday Standard May 31 to June 6, 2020).
For some time Botswana was commended by the international organisations, media and independent commentators for keeping the numbers of infections relatively low. In at least one instance, as early as March Botswana, which did not have the necessary vaccine, was prematurely praised as "winning the war against the coronavirus" (Uchend 2020). For instance, in a space of five months, the death rate had remained just below 10 individuals. Tests in Botswana indicated that most of the infections were imported cases from outside the country. Therefore, a lot of care and attention was directed to the country’s points of entry in the form of international airports and border posts. For a while, cases of local or community transmission remained relatively low. It was not until around mid-March that the surge in infections in the neighbouring South Africa led to President Cyril Ramaphosa ordering a Level Five lockdown, which prohibited non-essential movement in the country and also closed the country’s borders. As cases went up slightly in Botswana, it did not take long for President Masisi to institute a national State of Emergency (SOE) and ordered a lockdown from April 2 to 30, 2020 with what he called ‘extreme social distancing’ (Masisi, March 31, 2020). Further spread of the virus locally led to the SOE being extended by six months from October 2020 to March 2021.
Like elsewhere, the impact of this development had an adverse impact on the economy at the national and household levels. The United Nations ‘Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 in Botswana’ published on May 6, 2020, projected the country’s economy to contract by 13.1% (United Nations Botswana 2020).
The severity of the economic contraction forced many countries to relax their lockdown measures to encourage economic activity and job creation. For instance, despite rising cases of infection by October, South Africa had eased travel by opening the country’s borders and international airports. Botswana also allowed some resumption of several economic activities but did not open the borders until November 9 for international air travel and December 1 for border posts. By November 15, 2020, there were reported 8,225 coronavirus cases, 27 deaths and 5,559 recoveries in Botswana. Nevertheless, like elsewhere, the authorities continued trumpeting the message of continued observance of COVID-19 protocols.
The issue of citizen economic empowerment, to which we now turn, raged on in the media and government circles.
Presidential ‘Rampeechane’ rallying cry
As discussed above the debate on citizen economic empowerment in Botswana was an emotive issue that the indigenes had complained about in the past, but it reached fever pitch as the nation grappled with the pandemic. It was taken to a new level following President Masisi’s speech in April 2020 when he complained (speaking from the heart in Setswana to drive the point home to the indigenes in their indigenous language, but here translated into English) that, "We have spoken to some companies that this [COVID-19] is a catastrophe that has afflicted the whole world, but some of them have disappointed us. I am speaking about people who came here dirt-poor [wearing humble rampeechane sandals] yet today they are super-rich, they are demonstrating to us that they don’t care about Batswana. However, we are going to show them that we are Batswana. In July I am signing the law of Citizen Economic Empowerment."
Although President Masisi did not mention those he accused by name, the private media, general public and social media commentators concluded that he was attacking members of the Indian business community.
As indicated above some of their businesses issued letters of non-payment of salaries to their employees despite the government’s salary subsidy, which caused a great deal of anti-Indian outburst in the social media. The public outrage forced such business entities to retract the letters to their employees and a few even issued public apology. However, there were other non-Indian companies, which had also issued letters of non-payment of salaries to their employees.
The relentless anti-Indian vitriol spewed in the social media led to President Masisi making a measured and conciliatory pronouncement imploring the people to be tolerant of other sections of the society. It was alleged that he had been confronted by influential members of the Indian business community about his first ‘Rampeechane speech’. In particular, it was claimed that his Indian business partners and political funders had taken serious offence at his utterances, which they saw as a reckless stab in their back.
He was claimed to have apologised to the Indian community for his Rampeechane slur after which they started making donations (Chida, June 9, 2020). Interestingly, President Masisi’s second or damage control speech was delivered in English. Nonetheless, it was the case of closing the stable door after the horse had bolted. His declaration that "we are going to show them that we are Batswana" fell on ‘fertile ground’ in many young minds. However, it suffices to indicate that it was not fair for the critics to paint all members of the Indian business community with the same brush because some of them ‘hustled’ and struggled with no influence on the political leadership just like some indigenes.
Countering anti-Indian rhetoric and the quest for Citizen Economic Empowerment
As already hinted earlier, some people responded to the accusation of Indians monopolising government patronage and state capture by arguing that the problem was lack of necessary discipline and business acumen on the part of most indigenes. A deep-rooted culture of poor service delivery and production of low quality goods was also cited as a serious concern. Aspects of this were shared by Satar Dada himself in an interview with one of the local radio stations. Some members of the Indian community, who were angered by the accusations and abuse hurled at them hit back on social media. They pointed out that they had contributed to the economic development of the country, and if they were to end their participation the economy would collapse like that of Zimbabwe. Some indigenes also argued in the social media that the radical economic empowerment envisaged or demanded by Ngakaagae, Gaobakwe, ATI and others of their ilk would collapse the economy and lead to massive joblessness. The aggressive campaign against Indians was also seen as racist (Otlogetswe, June 6, 2020).
Nevertheless, the citizen economic empowerment proponents responded to their critics whom they portrayed as uncritical apologists of the status quo or state capture. For instance, Ngakaagae indicated that ‘When discussing this issue [Halaal induced marginalisation of native-chicken farmers] on social media, I was greeted with pitiable, self-hate excuses such as the employment role these key players perform in our economy. I dare say that Batswana would employ even more people, if we were to unlock the value chain and allow all to play’ (Ngakaagae, July 10, 2020). Also as noted above, Gaobakwe too dismissed the sentiment or stereotype that the indigenes did not have the necessary discipline and business acumen to run sustained and successful enterprises.
The government undertook some initiatives meant for citizen economic empowerment. For instance, Parliament debated the citizen economic empowerment law and announcements were made that starting on June 1, 2020, the government would pass a new law on business reserved 100% for Batswana citizens only. However, it was not indicated whether this meant people carrying national identity cards (Omang) or the indigenes. The communiqué announced that "all licenses for foreign-owned businesses will NOT be renewed". It was announced that an industrial licence to operate any of the following manufacturing enterprises shall be reserved for citizens in terms of section 5 (5) (a) of the Act: bread and confectionary; ice making; meat processing; peanut butter; purification and bottling of water; traditional sour milk and sorghum. Furthermore, it was declared that a registration certificate to operate any of the following manufacturing enterprises shall be reserved for citizens in terms of section 16 (2) (a) of the Act: bricks; bugler bars, gates and windows; candles; fencing material excluding gum poles; floor polishing; packaging; protective clothing; roof trusses; school furniture; school uniforms; screen printing and embroidery; signage, including electronic signage; traditional craft; and traditional leather products. The communiqué further declared that the following businesses registration certificates shall be reserved for citizens or for companies 'wholly' owned by citizens: agents business; auctioneers business; car wash business; cell phone shop business; cleaning services business; curio shop; dry clean depot business; florist business; general dealer business; general hire services; IMPORTED PRE-OWNED MOTOR DEALER BUSINESS; Internet café and copy shop; and laundromat business. While it was not explained why IMPORTED PRE-OWNED MOTOR DEALER BUSINESS was emphasised in capital letters, this business is believed to be predominantly in the hands of Indians particularly in Gaborone’s peri-urban area of Mogoditshane.
Furthermore, in July 2020 President Masisi launched with pomp and ceremony revised and simplified CEDA guidelines with greatly increased ceiling meant to boost the push for economic empowerment.
Ngakaagae also touched on a critical issue of the marginalisation of local communities in the country’s tourism Mecca of Okavango Delta and Chobe region where the tourism industry is largely monopolised by investors from Western countries (Ngakaagae 9 October 2020). Citizen involvement is said to be quite limited. However, it is well documented that former President, Ian Khama, has a significant investment in partnership with the Western investors in these regions. Therefore, during his presidency this was a sub-Power Elite dynamic with a different complexion. Ironically, the local communities in the Okavango region (Ngamiland West) are said to be among the most severely impoverished in Botswana primarily as a result of the ‘enclave’ and ‘internal colonial character’ of the high-end tourism industry there (Mbaiwa 2017). Therefore, one of the much talked about pledges of Masisi’s government was to help Batswana penetrate this exclusive tourism market which primarily caters for Western and South African White billionaires and millionaires.
Nonetheless, these efforts were seen by some critics as merely nibbling at the edges of economic marginalisation of the indigenes. As indicated above the capacity to provide goods and services of the quality demanded by exclusive foreign franchises where the country’s elite shop, was seen as likely to become a serious challenge to the citizen-owned enterprises. Poor work ethic and entitlement were not adequately addressed. Furthermore, Ngakaagae also raises a critical issue that severely undermines efforts at empowering the citizens namely the entrenched and pervasive corruption in government (Ngakaagae October 9, 2020). Efforts at fighting corruption do not convince many people as ‘the long arm of the law’ seems short when it comes to some well-connected accused with those arraigned before the courts routinely and predictably emerging victorious. The continued stay of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) under the Office of the President instead of it being a genuinely independent entity has raised serious doubts about its effectiveness in fighting the notoriously difficult to tackle elite corruption (Mogalakwe and Nyamnjoh 2017 and Ngakaagae October 9, 2020). BDP activists who campaign against corruption are marginalised by the party hierarchy.
The entrenched Power Elite in the form of the nexus between politicians and the business community, whether Indian or not, could prove problematic to break down as will be the indigenes’ penetration of the high-end Western driven tourism in the northern part of the country as business owners.
Conclusion Using the prism of the Power Elite theory this paper attempted to explain the Indian factor in the Botswana body politic from a historical and political economy perspectives. This was at a time when the COVID-19 contagion was ravaging the whole world with Botswana being no exception. The impact of the pandemic in Botswana brought to the fore the old debate on citizen economic empowerment, which had cropped up sporadically in the past. The failure of meaningful citizen economic empowerment was blamed squarely on the Indian business community’s influence and financial support for the country’s political leadership, the so-called state capture.
COVID-19 also saw the government of Botswana taking some initiatives meant for citizen economic empowerment. However, the major challenge going forward will be how to eradicate self-defeating attitudes and practices that undermine business and commercial undertaking by some indigenes. These include elite corruption and weak institutions meant to fight it, state capture, poor work ethic and the culture of entitlement. However, the fight against elite corruption in Botswana appears to be a lost cause. Moreover, state capture seems to be an integral part of emerging African democracies and only personalities are likely to change while the architecture or infrastructure remains largely intact. More often than not, the interests of the Power Elite have primacy over public or national interests.
CHRISTIAN JOHN MAKGALA & THABO LUCAS SELEKE*
*Makgala is with the Department of History, University of Botswana, while Seleke is with the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Botswana. He is also a PhD candidate at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London. This is an abridged version of a much larger paper published in the Botswana Notes and Records Volume 52 (2020).
