10 Nov 2024

Botswana, Africa’s oldest continuous multiparty democracy on Friday earned fresh accolades from the international community as Mr Duma Boko was inaugurated as the sixth President of the Republic after a smooth handover of power from his predecessor Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

In a momentous occasion displaying national unity, former Presidents Masisi, Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama and Dr Festus Mogae sat under one roof at the National Stadium to witness the Cinderella at the Ball, incoming President Boko’s ceremonial swearing in.

Only founding Presidents Sir Seretse Khama and Sir Ketumile Masire, who are both deceased were absent, as four of the country’s six presidents since independence were joined by foreign dignitaries in a national display of democratic maturity.

“This is Botswana!” President Boko said in his inaugural address. “We have yet again become an intriguing, as well as instructive case study of democracy at work, not in abstraction but for the world to learn from.

For nearly three score years (60 years), our democracy remained unproven, untested, unbroken. On the October 30, together, we tested this democracy in a novel way.  We tested the peace and stability of our daily lives. We tested the peace and security of every person in this beautiful land,” President Boko proclaimed.

He added that it was with pride that Botswana passed the test and President Boko said he if he could he would have wished to invite “every person from all over the world” to witness how Batswana handle their differences in a matured manner.

Since independence Botswana has held peaceful elections all won by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), but the 13^th polls held recently ushered in a peaceful transition with the BDP accepting defeat to become the political opposition and the UDC ascending to power.

While the major founding figures that mentored the separate contracting parties that make up the UDC such as Dr Kenneth Koma, Mr Philip Matante and Mr Gomolemo Motswaledi are no longer alive, President Boko noted their contribution of such opposition stalwarts to the country’s democratic outcomes.

“To those that did not live to see today’s overcast morning, we feel your presence in our hearts. This day is yours as well. Celebrate with us as we honour your contribution having raised the many of us who remain,” the President stated.

He added that the world watches “with an eagerness, ready to see how the story of this beautiful country progresses.”

Presidents of Zimbabwe, Southern African Development Community Chairman Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zambia, Mr Hakainde Hichilema and Namibia’s Nangolo Mbumba graced the occasion, as did high-level dignitaries from Uganda, Mozambique, eSwatini, South Africa and Lesotho among other states.

Zimbabwe’s Leader of the Opposition, Mr Nelson Chamisa, South Africa’s former Parliamentary Leader of the Opposition Mr Mmusi Maimane and the leader of South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters , Mr Julius Malema also attended the inauguration. Ends