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(TALKZIMBABWE) Botswana: most hypocritical nation in SADC

Botswana: most hypocritical nation in SADC
Comment
Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:17:00 +0000

BOTSWANA government's hypocrisy has been exposed after it has emerged that two Zimbabwean police officers languished in a Botswana jail for months after they had strayed across the border.

The Tswana government last week threatened to withdraw two high level diplomatic attaches from Zimbabwe over the arrest of two alleged officers of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Botswana who were charged with illegal entry into Zimbabwe and possession of ammunition without a valid license.

The country grabbed the headlines last week saying Zimbabwean authorities were refusing to cooperate to have the "officers" released.

Last year two Zimbabwean policemen suspected to be poachers were arrested in the neighbouring country. They had inadvertently crossed into Botswana.

The two policement were only recently released after going through that country’s normal judicial processes and Zimbabwean authorities never interfered in that process.

Recently, a Zimbabwean man was blamed for shooting a motorist in Botswana. He was deported hastily even though murder charges were withdrawn against him.

Botswana is one of the countries in the SADC region that has interfered in the running of affairs in Zimbabwe and is well known for mistreating Zimbabweans in search of greener pastures.

Botswana's Foreign Affairs Minister Phandu Skelemani in 2008 said his country was prepared to host a 'democratic resistance movement' led by the MDC-T party to topple President Mugabe from power.

This was a direct act of provocation on a sovereign country.

Such utterances were condemned by Zimbabwean authorities labelling them as provocative and absurd.

But while Botswana is trying to display its moral credentials to the region and the world at large, its own record at home is questionable.

Botswana's population is generally poor. Unemployment is close to 40%.

There is one doctor for 5,150 people.

Botswana's life expectancy at birth was 64 years in 1990 and in 2005 it fell to 39 years and is estimated to fall further to 31 years in the year 2015, way below the region's standard.

In 2006, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and a leading human rights group in Botswana, DITSHWANELO said Botswana government was not doing enough to contain discrimination directed towards indigenous people, certain ethnic groups, non-citizens, asylum seekers and refugees.

The country's Chieftainship Act and the Tribal Territories Act are said to have recognised only the Tswana-speaking tribes.

The non-recognition of some tribes, leads to non-representation in the House of Chiefs, resulting in such tribes being disadvantaged when it comes to land allocation.

Botswana's presidential succession is also dominated by a handful privileged clique and that presidential decisions are unquestionable.

In August 2009, a deputy minister in President Khama's cabinet was reported to having called for the amendment of the Constitution to allow a presidential third term for the incumbent - to prolong President Khama's term of office from 2018 to 2023.

Botswana is perhaps one of the few countries that mete out punishment in the form of corporal punishment.

While this form of punishment has been outlawed in many civilised countries over the world, in Botswana it is legal.

Botswana's judiciary allows the application of corporal punishment to people aged from 14 and up. Meaning that children aged between 14 and 18 are subjected to corporal punishment.

That is not in the spirit of many UN human rights conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Botswana has so far gone against the advice of the African Charter of Human Rights and People's Rights to replace corporal punishment with less humiliating options.

According to the UN's Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, corporal punishment, punishment by placing in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as punishments for disciplinary offences.

The United Nations human rights agency UNHCHR has in the past criticised Botswana's treatment of its minority citizens, especially the indigenous San people.

The UNHCHR were not happy with the removal of the San people from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) by that Government.

In 2002, the San people took the Botswana government to court to oppose the forceful removal from the CKGR.

However, the San people's quest for justice has been marred by bad tactics employed by government in order to frustrate them.

First, the authorities in Botswana barred the San people from stating their case before the UNHCHR's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination during that committee's session in Geneva in 2006.

The passports of the representatives of the San people from their organisation called First People of the Kalahari were confiscated, making it impossible for them to travel to Geneva.

Mistreating of Zimbabweans

Botswana foreign minister Phandu Skelemani was rin 2008 quoted in the media as saying, "Anybody who comes to Botswana saying that they fear for their life, from their own country, we will not chase them away".

But this goodwill by the minister does not reflect the situation on the ground considering that in 2004 about 72,112 Zimbabweans were deported from Botswana and 38 000 in 2006.

While Botswana is happily benefiting from Zimbabwe's demise by employing qualified Zimbabweans in its public and private sector, it is on the other hand chasing back those who are regarded as illegal immigrants. In most cases illegal immigrants are those who are uneducated and thus regarded as a burden.

*Some comments quoted here are from Botswana's New Era newspaper.

Labels: BOTSWANA, SADC

posted by MrK @ 1:36 PM