I have made mention a few times now of the increasingly authoritarian hints coming from the Office of the President (DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH!!!) here in Botswana. Seretse Khama Ian Khama (commonly referred to simply as Ian Khama) has a long and distinguished lineage extending from when his father helped usher the country from the colonial era. However by most accounts he is not carrying on Botswana’s tradition of democratic progress, transparency, and freedom.
As a result the country has seen the rise of a number of splinter political parties breaking away from Khama’s Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). The most prominent of these is the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), which has taken to calling the BDP “Botswana Dictatorship Party.”
Perhaps most telling of the state of politics in Botswana and the BDP is the fact that BMD does not simply represent a disenchanted opposition party — disenchantment pretty much being the lot of opposition parties everywhere. Instead the BMD by and large comes from the mainstream of the BDP, in many cases involving former party stalwarts who are legitimately chagrined by what they see developing under Khama’s presidency. These are people who have had access to the levers of power, and who have either fallen out of favor or simply have decided that enough is enough, most often making sacrifices to their own political careers and certainly making a powerful enemy, especially if the BMD fails — and failure rates for new opposition parties in the country and the region do not have a high rate of success.
On the pitch in South Africa:
Brazil: Wow! Everyone’s second favorite team pretty much showed why last night. When Robinho scored Brazil’s third goal last night my friend’s youngest son bolted up from what I had assumed was a deep sleep and started howling and shouting and dancing. As always that is a quality side. On form I’d suggest that Argentina and Brazil are destined for an epic final, but much can change in the days ahead.
The Netherlands looked somewhat flat and unconvincing in defeating Slovakia, a far cry from the Total Football that was once every bit as spectacular as what Brazil has always been capable of. But matchups make games, and I would guess that Brazil-Holland will be a cracker of a match.
