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