BOTSWANA: PRESIDENT KHAMA SHUFFLES CABINET

UNCLAS GABORONE 000307 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/S E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM BC SUBJECT: BOTSWANA: PRESIDENT KHAMA SHUFFLES CABINET ¶1. (U) On April 3 Botswana's President Ian Khama announced a series of cabinet changes. He dropped prominent Minister Daniel Kwelagobe and appointed two new Assistant Ministers. Daniel Kwelagobe had served as the Minister in the Office of the President responsible for Public Service since April 2008. He was replaced by the former Minister of Local Government, Margaret Nasha. Ambrose Masalila, who had been the Assistant Minister of Local Government, has been elevated to Local Government Minister to replace Nasha while Tswapong South MP Oreeditse Molebatsi was appointed Assistant Minister of Local Government. Keletso Rakhudu, MP for Gaborone North, has also been appointed by President Khama to the position of Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning. That position had been vacant since the resignation of Samson Guma Moyo earlier in the year. ¶2. (U) Kwelagobe's dismissal from the cabinet follows his March 2009 disagreement with President Khama over a new Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) policy that cabinet members should not at the same time serve in executive committee of BDP. Kwelagobe is currently the Chairman of the BDP and he has previously served as the party's Secretary General. Kwelagobe has announced that he plans to again run for the Chairmanship of BDP at the party's congress in July. Khama surprised members of his party when he dropped Kwelagobe from the cabinet three months before the party congress. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: The most interesting political contest in Botswana this year will not be the general election in October but rather the battles for control within the ruling BDP. Kwelagobe is a leader of one of the two main BDP factions and he commands a great deal of grassroots support. Kwelagobe had been viewed as one of the leading contenders to become Vice President, a position that ultimately went to then Foreign Minister Mompati Merafhe, when Khama took office April 1 last year. Khama may have dropped Kwelagobe from cabinet as an attempt to keep his faction in line as the general election draws near. On Kwelagobe's part, he has clearly decided that party office is more powerful than a ministerial position. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: The two newly appointed Assistant Ministers, Rakhudu and Molebatsi, did not have particularly noteworthy records as Members of Parliament or in their previous careers. Molebatsi worked for Botswana Railways before getting into politics and Rakhudu was a secondary school teacher. Rakhudu is known to be from Kwelagobe's faction, so it is possible that President Khama is trying to make some inroads into that group. Molebatsi on the other hand belongs to the Merafhe/Nkate faction of the BDP, which is already closely aligned with the president. Minister Nasha will not be returned as an MP in October, as she announced that she will not stand during the general elections. She is however interested in becoming the National Assembly speaker (an appointed position),which is a position that the BDP was reportedly prepared to offer to Daniel Kwelagobe if he would have agreed not to run again for Chairperson of the party. As things stand now, commentators expect that President Khama will back Tebelelo Seretse against Kwelagobe in the race for party Chairperson and if Kwelagobe loses, he will offer the Speaker's position to Nasha. This could leave Kwelagobe out in the cold in October. END COMMENT. Nolan