Former President Ian Khama of Botswana has vowed to wage a vigorous campaign to dethrone his handpicked successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, now a bitter rival whom he accuses of being a threat to democracy, in next year’s elections.
Khama, 70, ruled one of Africa’s most stable democracies and its top diamond producer for a decade until 2018, when he handed over power to Masisi, then his deputy.
South Africa-based Khama now accuses Masisi, 60, of authoritarianism and has said he regrets having appointed him as his successor.
Khama landed in South Africa in November 2021 to meet Nigerian ex-leader and respected continental mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo who was trying to intervene to bridge the rift between both men.
The row between the pair started immediately after Khama resigned in 2018 at the end of his constitutional limit of two five-year terms when Masisi started reversing some key policies adopted during Khama’s tenure.
Months later, and in the run up to the last elections, Khama dramatically quit the long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party, which had been co-founded by his father Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first president.
With elections due next year Khama is preparing to return home to bolster the opposition into a coalition to remove Masisi through the ballot box.
Khama drew parallels between Masisi and ex-American president Donald Trump.
“Botswana has been a democracy, right from independence, we had a very good reputation for democracy, we were a shining light on the African continent, we were renowned worldwide for our adherence to democracy and then you get this one man who comes in one day and just overturns everything,” said Khama.
“And this is the Botswana version of Donald Trump in Masisi.”
Both Masisi and the government’s spokesmen did not respond to the request for a comment on Khama’s claims.
