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Abstract
Botswana has regularly held general elections since 1965 and in October 2014 held her 11th general election. All these elections have so far been won by the ruling party. The regularity of elections in Botswana has persuaded some observers to present Botswana as an exemplar of democracy and good governance in Africa. This perception is reinforced by the formal existence of an electoral management body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), whose mandate is to ensure that elections are conducted efficiently, properly, freely and fairly. Although the Constitution enjoins the IEC to ensure that elections are conducted fairly, this article reveals that, in effect, the IEC has neither the authority nor the power to level the electoral playing field, and ensure that elections are also fair, in addition to being conducted efficiently, properly and freely. This inability by Botswana's electoral management body to ensure that elections are conducted fairly emanates from the narrow legal and political framework within which the IEC operates, and exposes the weaknesses of Botswana's much vaunted democracy.
Notes on contributor
Monageng Mogalakwe is an Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Botswana.
Notes
1. See ‘De Beers, Nchindo made Khama president – confidential document’ and ‘De Beers takes Botswana for a ride’ Sunday Standard, 7 March, 2010.
2. See ‘Inside BDP's secret million’, Botswana Guardian, 11 April 2014.
3. See ‘De Beers, Nchindo made Khama president – confidential document’ and ‘De Beers takes Botswana for a ride’, Sunday Standard, 7 March 2010.
4. Mogae went on to become the Vice President and later the President of Botswana.
5. According to section 65A of Botswana's Constitution, All-Party Conference means a meeting of all registered political parties convened from time to time by the Minister. It can make recommendations for appointment to membership of the IEC to the Judicial Service Commission. Its resolutions are not binding and all have been rejected by government. In 2004 the JSC appointed members of the board without consultation with political parties.
6. Eric Molale held the all-powerful positions of PSP, the Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Public Service. After the 2014 elections Molale was made a specially elected Member of Parliament and a Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration. He now becomes the political head of the same ministry he was in charge of as the PSP.
7. Mmegi Online, 7th February, 2008.
8. Fortunately the position of Secretary to the IEC is protected by the Constitution, and only a tribunal appointed by the President can recommend disciplinary action, including dismissal.
9. Although the three independent radio stations, GABZ FM, DUMA FM and Ya RONA FM have increased their nationwide reception, they still do not yet have a network of correspondents or reporters to compare with the government controlled BOPA.
10. The message/press release was entitled ‘Address and Press Release by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama on the Current Affairs of the Botswana Democratic Party – 20th August 2009’.
11. Letter from the Director, Broadcasting Services, dated 4 September 2009, addressed to the National Broadcasting Board.
13. See ‘Khama can rescue BDP in F/Town West- Parks Tafa, BDP attorney’, Botswana Gazette of 6 November 2013, p. 2.
14. See ‘VP postpones polls’, Botswana Daily News, 22 November 2013.
15. See ‘F/town West Petition – the forensic report’ in Mmegi, vol. 31 no. 04, 10th January 2014.