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Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi

President Ian Khama stepped down 31 March 2018 to make way for his vice president, exactly a decade - to the day - after he became president of the diamond-rich Southern African nation. Current Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi took his place. Botswana law restricts the president to serving two five-year terms, and provides for the vice president to automatically fill the post should it become vacant. The National Assembly will elect a new president after elections scheduled for October 2019.

Masisi is a known poverty eradication enthusiast. Many, even within the BDP, believed that Honourable Masisi was not the best choice for the position of Vice President - they said he was a boot-licker. What seemed to be lacking with Masisi is the art of persuasion and consensus building. Masisi’s worst attributes were his perceived anti-labor stance and anti-media tendencies which came to the fore, especially when the was Minister of Presidential Affairs & Public Administration. Masisi was anti-freedom of the press and was at the center of government’s strategy to turn Botswana Television from a public broadcaster to a government propaganda machine. He was the progenitor of government’s plan to starve private media of government advertising.

As soon as Mokgweetsi Masisi, was elected Vice President (VP) becoming constitutionally entitled to automatically succeed President Lieutenant General Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, many, even within the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), expressed misgivings about him. Consequently, as soon as the 2014 general elections were over, names began emerging of those who either intended or were being lobbied to challenge HH Masisi, first for the party Chairpersonship and later for the party Presidency and therefore the state Presidency.

Edison Masisi, the father of the Mokgweetsi Masisi, was a Member of Parliament for Moshupa. Edison Masisi started his primary school education at Moshupa and completed at Kanye before proceeding to Tiger Kloof in South Africa for secondary education and professional training as a teacher. He joined the BDP in 1964. He won the Moshupa seat in the first election of 1965. He was appointed Assistant Minister of Agriculture and later in the Ministry of Health. Mr Masisi was elected deputy speaker in 1989 until 1993 when he was reappointed to cabinet as Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning. Mr Masisi was born on 31 March 1921 to Mr Jimmy Ketshoketswe Masisi and Ms Mpusetseng Kesenye both of Moshupa. He was the second born and first son. He died in 2003.

Masisi initially trained as a teacher majoring in English and History. In 1984 he taught at Mmanaana Secondary School in Moshupa, while also leading community development initiatives there. In 1987, Masisi transferred to Curriculum Development and Evaluation and worked as Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, where he supervised a group of subjects (Social Studies, Music, Religious and Moral Education) In 1989 he studied at graduate level at Florida State University, USA, specialising in Social Studies Education and Instructional Systems Design.

In 1990 Masisi re-joined Curriculum Development and oversaw Social Studies and other subjects and played major role in development of new assessment system of Criterion Referenced Testing (CRT). There he became the National Coordinator for Social Studies Education and Botswana’s representative as the African Social and Environmental Studies Programme (ASESP) and Board member for Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) for more than 5 years. He was also a member of several NGO Boards.

Masisi joined UNICEF in 1995 as Education Project Officer, during which time he: Developed and implemented education for children of remote area dwellers focussing on access, retention and improved performance; Developed and implemented education for pregnant students; and Initiated policy and program reforms for excluded in Botswana and Eastern and Southern Africa region.

In 2003 Masisi resigned to join politics, standing unsuccessfully for BDP primaries in Moshupa Constituency. Notwithstanding this setback he remained active in politics and was: Elected Deputy Secretary of Moshupa Branch Committee; Joined International Research NGO and focussed on HIV Prevention research; and Began studying for PhD in epidemiology. In 2008 Masisi won the BDP Primary Elections and thus became the party’s Parliamentary candidate for Moshupa, which he subsequently secured in the October 2009 general election. Also in October 2009, Masisi was appointed as the Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration.

Masisi was subsequently promoted to be the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public administration in January 2011, where he: Spearheaded the Poverty Eradication Programme; Oversaw the expansion of broadcasting capacity by Btv and Radio Botswana; Conceptualised and started the Moshupa Constituency Development Show; Started and rolled out to the whole Constituency, free distribution of vegetable seedlings to all and other community initiatives to improve peoples’ lives; and Initiated partnerships for continuing education, economic groups etc. In April 2014 Masisi was transferred to the Ministry of Education and Skills Development on an acting basis until the general elections on the 24th October 2014, when he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Moshupa-Manyana. He was, thereafter, appointed as the substantive Minister of Education and Skills Development, October 28th 2014.

On 13 November 2014, Parliament endorsed the MP for Moshupa/Manyana constituency and Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mokgweetsi Masisi, as Botswana’s 8th Vice President. Mokgweetsi Masisi, also Moshupa/Manyana MP, won the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) chairmanship race during the party’s central committee elections at the national congress in Mmadinare on 04 July 2015. He garnered 582 votes against former ambassador to the United States, Ms Tebelelo Seretse's 219.

Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi, Vice-President of Botswana, addressed the UN General Assembly 21 September 2017 said Botswana had held several multi-stakeholder consultations in the formulation of both its national development plan for 2017-2023, and “Vision 2036” plan for 2017-2036, from a belief that national priorities must reflect people’s needs. Those frameworks sought to accelerate development by addressing education, health care, housing, poverty, income inequality, gender inequality and unemployment.

Further, it was “reprehensible” that Western Sahara remained the only Non-Self-Governing Territory in Africa and it was time for an independent, impartial plebiscite to be held under United Nations supervision. He similarly supported Palestinians in their struggle for sovereignty and independent statehood, announcing that Botswana established diplomatic relations with Palestine on 8 March.

Botswana’s president drew attention for urging long-time African leaders to loosen their grip on power: first, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, then Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, it was his turn. President Ian Khama stepped down 31 March 2018 to make way for his vice president, exactly a decade - to the day - after he became president of the diamond-rich Southern African nation. Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi took his place.