Former Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama said that he was vocal about Zimbabwe because its leader, the late former president Robert Mugabe, had abandoned democratic ethos and had embraced authoritarianism.
Khama openly condemned Mugabe’s rule, saying Zimbabweans were being persecuted under Mugabe as happened during the Rhodesia era.
Khama made the remarks during a recent interview with Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube on the platform In Conversation with Trevor. NewsDay quoted Khama as saying:
We had Zimbabwe, a neighbour right next door, (and) Mugabe who was doing the opposite of what we believed in … but there are certain fundamental basics that governments should follow if they call themselves democracies.
You had a situation in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) whereby there were sanctions on the country and the majority were being persecuted and then in an independent Zimbabwe under Mugabe, Zimbabweans are still fleeing, they are still being persecuted. So we said what difference is there between then and Mugabe’s days?
Just before Zimbabwe’s military staged a coup that ended Mugabe’s long reign, Khama wrote urging him to resign over poor governance. He wrote:
The people of Zimbabwe have for a long time been subjected to untold suffering as a result of poor governance under your leadership.
It is, therefore, my conviction that by vacating the Presidency, this will usher in a new political dispensation that will pave the way for the much-needed socio-economic recovery in Zimbabwe.
Khama, who is currently in self-imposed exile in South Africa after fleeing alleged political persecution by his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, was a close ally of the late former Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
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