Opinion / Columnist
Khama should try humility
8 hrs ago | Views
Ian Khama's latest unprovoked outburst - praising Ian Smith's Rhodesia and branding Zimbabwe a "failed state" - is as tone-deaf as it is arrogant. No wonder Batswana now regard their ex-president with indifference, even suspicion. Instead of practising ubuntu and minding his own country's challenges, Khama meddles in neighbours' affairs while preaching from the comfort of exile.
What did he ever deliver at home? Botswana's economy was already diamond-powered before he took office; under Khama, unemployment and inequality barely budged, and his heavy-handed media clampdowns drew international censure. Compare that record with President Mnangagwa, who stays out of Botswana's politics and focuses on Zimbabwe's recovery despite two decades of illegal sanctions.
Khama waxes lyrical about Rhodesia yet ignores that it was a racist police state. Zimbabwe, for all its struggles, redistributed land to 300,000 black families, expanded literacy to near-universal levels, and still supplies doctors, teachers, and peacekeepers across Africa. A "failed state" does not host AU summits or feed SADC with grain surpluses.
If Khama seeks relevance, he should try humility - start by acknowledging Zimbabwe's resilience and his own thin presidential legacy. Until then, he remains a cautionary tale: a former leader who traded statesmanship for cheap shots, and lost the respect of his own people in the process.
What did he ever deliver at home? Botswana's economy was already diamond-powered before he took office; under Khama, unemployment and inequality barely budged, and his heavy-handed media clampdowns drew international censure. Compare that record with President Mnangagwa, who stays out of Botswana's politics and focuses on Zimbabwe's recovery despite two decades of illegal sanctions.
Khama waxes lyrical about Rhodesia yet ignores that it was a racist police state. Zimbabwe, for all its struggles, redistributed land to 300,000 black families, expanded literacy to near-universal levels, and still supplies doctors, teachers, and peacekeepers across Africa. A "failed state" does not host AU summits or feed SADC with grain surpluses.
If Khama seeks relevance, he should try humility - start by acknowledging Zimbabwe's resilience and his own thin presidential legacy. Until then, he remains a cautionary tale: a former leader who traded statesmanship for cheap shots, and lost the respect of his own people in the process.
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