OPINION: Is the Media complicit in the subversion of democracy?

This question was posed by the President of the Umbrella for Democratic Change Advocate Duma Boko Monday this week during a Press conference at Cresta Hotel in Gaborone. My take is that this is an indictment on the Media. It’s a rude awakening for the Media.

Indeed, the question is timely given the silly season that’s upon us, as we approach next year’s national elections when the citizens will decide on who to trust with their government. So let’s attempt to answer this question. First things first.

Is democracy being subverted under the current regime? Well, for the UDC, indeed the governing party, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is presiding over the subversion of democracy in Botswana. How is this so?

UDC will point to the deteriorating standard of living of the majority of Batswana, the glaring inequalities that characterise our society – the poverty and high unemployment, the growing resentment of people towards their government on account of being denied basic services and amenities.

An example is the long time it takes for a Motswana to acquire a piece of land when the same is not true for those who wield state power. In-fact we see the ruling elites going on a buying spree, extorting and expropriating land from the poor using their wealth! But worst of all, is the curtailment of Motswana’s basic rights – when you deny him his civil, political or economic liberties, this is as good as killing him!

Some argue that UDC is bitter after losing the 2019 general elections, which it maintains were stolen. They continue to argue unabatedly that there was a massive scale of rigging committed by the ruling, using the ‘rogue’ Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services in cahoots, with the ‘so-called’ Independent Electoral Commission.

And in the words of Boko, these state institutions (DIS and IEC) were aided and abetted in their treacherous undertaking by a Judiciary that stooped so low some of its members should have been impeached.

It is the UDC’s argument that the going into the 2019 elections, the President of the country, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi violated the country’s basic law – the Constitution – when he presided over a subverted electoral process.

This, he argues, was apparent when, in contravention of the Constitution, the Secretary of the Independent Electoral Commission (Keireng Zuze) was denied security of tenure and employed on contract basis, and after the elections dumped! In the words of the UDC leader, this is a gross violation of the constitution and an offence for which the President can be impeached!

As for the litany of crimes committed during the 2019 elections – among them use of fake voters’ rolls at polling stations; votes’ names not appearing in the voters’ rolls at their polling stations - Boko holds one man and one man in particular – the Chief Justice – (Terrence Rannowane) guilty for the subversion of democracy.

According to the UDC leader, the Chief Justice conspired against court rules and procedures (central management system) to ‘handpick’ judges to preside over the UDC election petitions and by sheer coincidence, it was the same judges whose findings ‘went astray’!

Whereas justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done, Boko argues that in the case of the UDC election petitions, the bolts of justice were shut from within, thereby closing out any prospect of remedy for the aggrieved.

Now, as we approach the 2024 general elections, the UDC has gone to extreme lengths to level the electoral playing field They demand a fool-proof electoral system in which rigging and fraud will, to the extent possible, be avoided. And among these measures, UDC have written to the IEC asking pertinent questions that must be ironed out if we are to hope for a free, fair, transparent, impartial, credible and lawful national poll!

Among the questions posed to the IEC, the UDC wants to know since the Voters’ Roll is extracted from an electronically-kept data, where is this database system housed, how is the data stored (in server or cloud); who has access to it – or plainly does the DISS have access to it; where was the system procured from and an assurance that it cannot be manipulated.

Boko, rightly so, believes that answering these questions will engender or inspire confidence in the conduct of elections!

But, lo and behold, even though the letter was handed on the 4th of October 2023, Boko finds its ‘disrespectful’ and contemptuous that by October 23rd the IEC has still not acknowledged its receipt, much less shown a commitment to respond to the letter! It is this type of conduct that has angered multitudes, the resentment will bubble and boil over, and eventually lead to civil strife! That’s the ominous warning from the UDC leader.

Worse still, he complains of the covert or clandestine appointment of Barnabas Nyamadzabo as Chairperson of the IEC, when against set procedure, the All Party Conference (APC) from whose recommendation such appointment must be made and then endorsed by the Judicial Service Commission - has not met!

The Minister responsible for Presidential Affairs has not convened an All Party Conference, so how was Nyamadzabo – a former judge that presided over UDC election petitions – appointed to this position; who were the other candidates?

Again, the UDC says it has realised that the IEC is patently biased towards a certain party in the recruitment of registration officers for the upcoming general elections and has thus decided to engage its own registration clerks who will observe the process to ensure transparency.

Boko challenged the Media to also join this process and not to outsource its responsibilities to other forces! The UDC has also established Madebela Tlhopho through which they aspire to make the electorate aware of its rights as prescribed by the Electoral Act. Some have equated Madibela Tlhopho to a vigilante group and fear that Boko’s repeated threats that the UDC cadre will protect the vote with its lives, is tantamount to inciting violence!

The UDC leader denies this accusation and in-fact maintains that if anyone can be accused of inciting violence it is the IEC which continues to run elections unfairly. In-fact, he says they are warning IEC to get its house in order! So, is the Media complicit in the subversion of democracy?

Under normal circumstances the Media is the voice of the voiceless. It is the watchdog of society. It mirrors society, portraying it in all its manifestations. The Media is the lens through which society looks at itself.

However, trends show that the Media is no longer the voice of the voiceless, instead it trumpets and parrots the voice of those who wield power! The Media no longer investigates with the view to hold power to account, it is indeed complicit.

The best answer to this question can be demonstrated by the conspicuous absence of all the state media at UDC’s press conference! If indeed we are a true democracy in which parties win or lose elections on the strength of their policies and programmes, why then is the state media selective in its coverage?