Western democracy vs traditional life- part one
15th March 2011
In this article i would like to appeal to the conscience of you the reader. I want to speak to your heart and expose you to a truth that has been hidden from you in a web of lies and deceit. This truth is that you are a black man/woman. You are not white and you will never be no matter how many wigs, doctrate titles you may wear , how much cream you may apply to yourself and how many times you may pretend to be a white man/woman. You remain black. The westerners will always see you for what you are : black. But what is even more important is that you are Motswana. It means a lot to be Motswana , and it is a truly wonderful thing to be Motswana, only if you can open your eyes to your true nature.
Now you have been lied to by your irresponsible politicians colonial master since independence. They have told your parents, and now you and your children that there is this fancy form of rule called western democracy , which is all so good for you. The truth is that this thing called western democracy is in fact tyranny disguised as democracy. It is a system of governance designed to keep you enslaved to the few people running and benefitting from ruling you. I have previously exposed this falsehood in various articles i have written last year. Today i would like to focus briefly on the judiciary. I will draw comparisons between justice under western democracy and justice under our traditional forms of life . Before advancing any further into this discussion i must clear your mind of a myth that has been drummed into the heads of your parents , you and now your children since 1966. The myth is that your traditional form of justice is outdated, poor, insufficient, inefficient and generally out of step with modern systems of justice. That is false dear reader. The truth is that your irresponsible politicians and some academics have gone out of their way to make your traditional system look that way. They have done all in their power to destroy the institution of traditional leadership which is the custodian of traditional justice. Former president Masire confessed in his book that he and Sir Seretse Kgama went out to kill Bogosi (Traditional Leadeship). Their agenda has been carried through in the past 44 years of Botswana Independence. So what you see of your customary courts and Bogosi (Traditional Leadeship). is not the true nature of these institutions but a creation of your politicians.
So the fact that our customary court system is materially inadequate is not so much because the system itself is inherently weak and cannot accommodate modern circumstances, but it is because the politicians have rendered it as weak as you see it . You need to wake up and out of this myth dear reader. Ask yourself this; how did your forefathers survive with their traditional justice systems for hundreds of years before 1966 , and how do other nations elsewhere in the world survive who do not subscribe to western democracy justice? Just ask yourself these basic questions then you will begin to see through the lies.
Law anywhere in the world can be either an instrument of justice and freedom or it can be an instrument of oppression of the majority by the few. In this case i say to you that traditional justice in its empowered and not disempowered form is an instrument of justice, whilst law under western democracy is in fact an instrument of oppression and injustice. Now let us take a few examples just for this part one of this article. One of the cardinal rules of justice is “ justice for all” .Another is “ justice delayed is justice denied “ . We hear every day, judicial officers wielding the power of western democracy law parroting these cardinal values as if they truly practice them in their courts. The truth is that the only swift justice is in the traditional courts. Such justice is easily accessible by all free of any charge and is dispensed with dispatch accompanied by respect and humaneness for those before the Court. It is only the traditional system that lives up to the values of “ justice delayed is justice denied “ and “ justice for all “ .Take a look at what happens in the modern courts, the magistrates Court and High Court. Firstly, justice in that court is simply inaccessible. The language of such Courts is not language of the people despite the fact most of the time that those involved in litigation shall all be Setswana speaking people. The language of the Court is English. Very few of all the people appearing in these Courts can understand English, let alone the difficult Court English. This hurdle alone makes the Courts inaccessible.
Secondly, justice in those Courts comes with monetary costs. Paid justice can never be justice at all. True justice must be free so that it is accessible to all. One needs a lawyer to manoeuvre his way through the justice system of these Courts. If you cannot afford a lawyer then you are done for. The rich, famous and corrupt will ride over you anytime anywhere. In these Courts they say justice delayed is justice denied. When you tell them that they are denying you justice everyday through their inordinate delays they give political excuses to warrant temporary exceptions to this cardinal rule. The truth however is that justice under western democracy is meant to be the way we see it, machinery designed to deny people access to justice. It is a tool of oppression. If you doubt this, try engaging the legal system against a clear abuse of your rights by the very government who takes your tax. They will use your tax money to oppress you with the justice system until you run out of money to litigate. The same experience you will have if you try to litigate against a rich man stealing your land or cattle. They have blocked your avenue to justice through your traditional system. This blockage is in the legislation that provides for forum shopping and allows one to refuse to be tried at the customary court and also legislation that limits the jurisdiction of the customary Courts.
Another value we often hear being parroted is called due process. Due process in short means fair procedure. The justice system under western democracy wants you to believe that due process is lacking in quality under your traditional system. For example they will paint bad the idea of someone being whipped on the back ( go kgwathisa ) without a formal hearing; yet just take a look at what they do without any hearing at all. As i write this article today, there are hundreds of citizens and non citizens languishing in Botswana prisons on remand by these western Courts, without any trial or formal hearing. The numbers of people who have suffered this injustice in the past are thousands. Some have been in jail awaiting trial for murder for more than five, some ten years, only to be acquitted on trial. The police daily abuse their 48 hour detention powers. For the flimsiest reasons, a police officer will detain you in a police cell for 48 hours only to release you later without a charge or reason for the detention. All this happens every day in our lives without a hearing at all. The police budge into our private residences without warrants to search and sieve stuff from us daily. These violations of privacy rights go unchallenged. You need lots of money to challenge them in these western Courts, while the government uses your tax money to fight you.
Our western democracy courts are the greatest violators’ of human rights. The people suffering the worst human rights abuses in jail awaiting trial are there because of the western Courts. So really, whose fooling who here. They speak of due process and yet this is what we get, imprisonment without trial, everyday. Many people who have suffered this abuse had or have families. They have been cut away from their wives and children in this painful way and some families have actually broken apart. The system is inhumane. Its inhumanity is well illustrated in the manner by which our Courts treat people under criminal trial. Under your traditional system, you retain your name, dignity and respect during the trial. Under the western system you lose your name dignity and respect. You acquire the title of “ accused”. The magistrate refuses to great you or recognise that you are a human being. Yes reader that is exactly how it is .
So there we go. Don’t be fooled by your western trained lawyers, academics and politicians who want to make you believe that your cultural ways of life are bad. Those who think that way are in fact lost souls and are spritualy dead. They have no clue of where they are. The western ways or the version of western ways that we have for Botswana is really bad. What i have mentioned now is only tip of the iceberg. As i continue with this series you will learn what they do to people under sentence of death. It is truly appalling. Our Kings in the past had no history of sentencing people to death. I am not saying it never happened but i challenge you the reader to explore the history of your own community to find when and where your Kings ever sentenced anyone to death and the identities of such people. The self imposed Kings of the western system play God every time with people’s lives and they kill people at Gaborone central prison in a manner that will shock you. We will discuss this in the next articles. We will also discuss the illusion called judicial precedent which has thrown us as a nation along a path of lostness for many years. But for now i believe this a sufficient warm up for you to carefully consider the myth that has ruled your life for a long time. It is time for us to expose this falsehood for what it is as we prepare ourselves to build a new Botswana for Batswana by Batswana. Dear reader it is necessary that you should stop fooling yourself to believe that you have justice when you do not. Face this fact. Facing it is the first step to liberating yourself from the tyranny of this justice system and making this country a better place for you and future generations.
Ke nako! (Its time!)
Molefe Seitei
