Congratulations, Mr President. We Are Behind You

When living through significant moments in history, we never fully appreciate just how special they are at that time. Sure, we are aware that they are significant occasions, but the sheer magnitude of them in the broader context of history eludes human brain comprehension. That comprehension will probably come in a few years when our brains look back at the moment more objectively. 

As a citizen of Botswana, that is how November 1 2024, felt.

President Duma Boko being picked up by a security detail at his home and driven halfway across the capital city, Gaborone, to be sworn in as the president of Botswana was a defining moment in the country's history. The simplicity of the process and the normality of the day were what made it so surreal; excuse the juxtaposition. From the moment he exited his humble home, his wife's hand in his and escorted to a waiting convoy, he was on his way to sign over his entire being to Batswana for at least the next five years. On this hot Friday afternoon in November, the country's history changed forever, but living through it feels just like another Friday.

Before being whisked away to his new life as the first citizen, Boko and the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had started a confident march to governance after a historic performance in Botswana's 2024 general elections. It was a historic performance which would uproot the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power after 58 years. The UDC was again the favourite to rival President Mokgweetsi Masisi's Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the 2024 polls. In the 2019 polls, the party was also slated to bring the fight to the BDP but had severely underperformed, with Boko even failing to get a seat in parliament.

This time around, Boko was not even contesting for the constituency he had lost in 2019. It was presidency or burst. The UDC had been troubled by tussles prior to the polls, which saw the Dumelang Botswana Congress Party (BCP) exit the UDC coalition structure. BCP had contributed 8 of the 15 UDC parliamentary seats in 2019, so in them, the UDC had lost a valuable ally. Despite its troubles, Boko had built a formidable foe to the BDP, which was well regarded by the electorate and analysts alike.

The BDP's shoddy standing before the polls, including flooring and failing to pass questionable bills and a disastrous performance by Masisi in the presidential candidate's debate, had rendered it a wounded gazelle. But the pre-election state of the party was more a sign than a symptom. The damage had already been done by a governing term marred by a seemingly never-ending public spat between Masisi and former president Ian Khama, poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost many lives, and an economy battered by the subsequent aftershocks of the pandemic.

So, coming into the 2024 polls, the opinion that the BDP's performance would not be optimal was not exactly radical. But at worst, the BDP was expected to maybe lose its outright majority and be forced into some form of coalition. However, Batswana had other ideas for the country's future, and in that future, the BDP would play a bench role in governance. Following the October 31st polling, the local government results were the first proof of the nation's rejection of the party. But local government results are a non-factor for who would rule the country. Sure, the UDC and other opposition had almost whitewashed the BDP, but what mattered the most was yet to come.

However, approaching midnight on polling day, as the parliamentary results started trickling in, it was clear that a blue tide of change was going to sweep through Botswana. By the early hours of November 1st, while the UDC was on 8 parliamentary seats out of 31 needed to rule, the BDP was still on 0. Then 9, then 10, and still nothing for the BDP.  Where counting was ongoing, the UDC led by massive margins. It was over for the BDP. Masisi would later admit at a presser hastily called early in the morning that he had called Boko at around that time to congratulate him on an upcoming victory.

And just like that, 58 years of the BDP's rule had come to an end. BDP rule has been all the parents and grandparents of the current generation who uprooted them had known. It was a 58-year tenure of mixed fortunes, from the country being one of the fastest growing economies in the world in the 80s and 90s to a stagnant middle-income economy rife with inequality and looting in the latter years.

Boko and the UDC take over an economy teetering on the brink of collapse. Almost 60 years of overreliance on a shiny rock which has no economic value but as a luxury good has rendered the country susceptible to economic shocks which render the rock useless. As sales plummeted, like they have in 2024, the country has been forced to dip into savings accounts to address budget shortfalls and keep the country operational. Unemployment is also rife, with the country spending billions of pulas on training a labour force which has nowhere to work. The public healthcare system is not faring any better.

But it is what Boko swore to fix as he placed his left hand on that Bible in Chief Justice Terence Rannowane's chambers at the High Court on Friday afternoon. It will be a tough fix but he will have the whole country behind him. Even Masisi has pledged unconditional support to his president. Khama too. It is going to take the whole nation's effort to come out on the other side. It will be hard, extremely hard, but not impossible. If there is something that the date October 31st 2024 has shown is that in the tiny southern African nation, nothing is impossible.

November 1 2024, has now come and gone. The tears of defeat and joy, depending on partisan affiliation, have dried up. Boko's victory lap has come and gone. Now, the work begins. Although Batswana know it's a historic day, it doesn't exactly exude a supernatural feeling of significance. It feels like just another Friday. But this will be the most significant day in the country's history after 30 September 1966. 

It is a day grandkids will be told tales about, it is a day students, from primary school to political science classes in universities, will be taught about in the coming decades. November 1 2024, a day forever etched in the history of Botswana.