President Khama Writes An Open letter To President Mugabe
Lately there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the neighboring Zimbabwe. The president Robert Mugabe who has been in power for the past 37 years was last week arraigned by the media and was said to be on house arrest.
The SADC has tried to intervene and some states, including Botswana has been supporting the motion of removing President Mugabe from power. He was ordered to hand in his resignation by noon on Monday or face impeachment. He however ignored that order and still has not resigned.
The president of Botswana Ian Khama has written an open letter to him to appeal to him to be sensitive to the wishes of his people. Read the letter here;
PRESIDENT KHAMA WRITES AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUGABE
21 November, 2017
Dear President Mugabe,
I am writing this open letter to you which I am aware is not the normal method of communication between leaders.
Mr. President, I am writing to appeal to you to be sensitive to the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe and to do the honourable thing by voluntarily relinquishing power as the President of Zimbabwe.
My appeal is necessitated by an unprecedented situation currently unfolding in Zimbabwe whereby your own party, ZANU-PF, is calling for your immediate resignation and is in the process of instituting impeachment.
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.
I therefore reiterate my appeal to you to honourably step aside, if you really care for them, as you profess, and if you cannot find it in you to do so, then as a Christian do so in the spirit of our Lord in order to usher in a new period going forward of unity, peace and prosperity for Zimbabweans and allow your country to be the economic powerhouse it is capable of being.
Yours sincerely,
Lieutenant General Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA
The impeachment process is expected to start soon.
Impeachment requires a two-thirds majority of both the senate and the national assembly.
While the governing ZANU-PF party, which has turned against its leader, holds a parliamentary majority, it may have to team up with opposition legislators to make up the required numbers.
Dozens of ZANU-PF MPs have fled the country or gone into hiding facing army detention, following a military crackdown targeting “criminals” surrounding the veteran leader.
Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc is holding an extraordinary session on Tuesday to discuss the Zimbabwe situation in neighbouring Botswana, where the SADC is headquarters is located.
While the region’s leaders remain silent on Mugabe’s fate, Botswana’s President Ian Khama has openly called for the world’s oldest president to step down.
