Exiled former Botswana President, Ian Khama spoke to Trevor Ncube on his YouTube channel. Khama revealed in the interview that he will not contest for Botswana President during the next elections.

Below are the key points from the discussion:

  1. Khama says he is exiled in South Africa because of persecution by Masisi.
  2. When Masisi came into office, he overturned decades of democracy in Botswana.
  3. Masisi rigged elections in 2019.
  4. Masisi is intolerant, he has  removed freedom of speech.
  5. The intelligence service has been weaponized.
  6. The judiciary has been undermined and there have been attempts to capture judges.
  7. A prominent traditional leader has revealed that a judge told her Masis had told him how to rule in a case.
  8. The anti-corruption urgency has been corrupted.
  9. Khama says he handpicked Masisi to succeed him and at the time he did not see these traits in Masisi.
  10. Khama said people came to him and told him about it but he ignored it.
  11. Some of his ministers came to him and asked him to remove Masisi as Vice President.
  12. Khama said at one point he called Masisi into his office and told him what ministers were saying about him.
  13. Khama revealed that after a while, he had a 2 day cabinet meeting where his ministers spoke in front of Masisi and spoke about their concerns.
  14. Khama said despite this, he stuck by Masisi.
  15. Khama said he did not form the Botswana Patriotic Front (BDF).
  16. Khama says others formed BDF and he was invited to join it.
  17. Khama says his crime was to leave the BDP.
  18. Khama says as soon as he left the ruling party they tried to poison him.
  19. Khama says Masisi fabricated the charges that he stole P100 Billion.
  20. Khama says he will not let the fabrication go.
  21. Khama says he has put his name forward to lead the Botswana Patriotic front.
  22. Khama says it was difficult for him to leave the party that his father former (BDP)
  23. This is why he went to the BDP stronghold and convened a meeting of the voters.
  24. At the first meeting it was unanimously agreed that he should walk away from the BDP.
  25. At the second meeting, people came and threw away their BDP cards and joined the new party, BDF. This infuriated Masisi
  26. Khama says he was in the BDP because of the principles and programs and left because Masisi has abandoned the principles and programs.
  27. On the arms charges, Khama says Masisi is charging him for his licenced firearms.
  28. They taped off his home and denied him entry into the house.
  29. Masisi lost at court and also at the court of appeal but still they removed the weapons without a search warrant.
  30. A foreign intelligence agency has revealed that Masisi wants to win the next elections at all costs and he is willing to eliminate him.
  31. Khama says he would like an independent outside body to come and investigate all the allegations.
  32. Three foreign embassies have documented attempts by Masisi to poison him.
  33. Khama says he had no intention of going back into politics.
  34. He then found that when he wanted to go out of the country his travel was blocked.
  35. The state media was told him to not cover him.
  36. Business people that were donating to his charity would be threatened by the intelligence agency.
  37. The intention was to destroy the Khama legacy.
  38. Masisi now wants to remove the Sir Seretse Khama day, and rename it Heroes day.
  39. Khama said when he wrote to the UN to investigate, Masisi’s government wrote back and did not address the concern.
  40. Khama said when he spoke to his head of intelligence about the poisoning, he did not tell anyone. This made him believe that his head of intelligence was a plant.
  41. The majority of the people in Botswana want regime change.
  42. Khama says he want to promote a united front to chose one can come up with a single Presidential candidate.
  43. As soon as the party wins the elections, Khama says he will step back, but will not contest as the Presidential candidate.
  44. Khama says Masisi wants to push De Beers because he wants the company to give him personally something.

Please watch the video above this post for more details.