Unity Dow’s response to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday took the country by a storm, with many agreeing with her sentiments.
Though she warned those who would align themselves with her views to expect persecution at the hands of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), many, especially in the opposition aligned themselves anyway.
Speaking through a Facebook post yesterday, the Member of Parliament for Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi thanked Unity Dow for standing up against the DISS while it’s not fashionable to do so within the BDP. Mmolotsi further urged the nation to act or perish, as things are getting more ugly.
“I shed a tear today looking straight into Unity Dows face. I could feel the pain in her heart. I could relate because I live that pain everyday. She spoke the truth and it is unfashionable lately to speak the truth and I know that today she will sleep peacefully. Boammaaruri bo a golola. I have known Unity to be a principled woman, a principled lawyer and gender activist..I have previously fought with her for denying Batswana her independent mind and i am happy that she is now taking her rightful place. It is the right thing to do to speak against evil when you see it happening because looking away can be extremely costly to you and the entire nation. Unity Dow spoke to the DIS Act and not to the person and she should be understood that way. Structures in the Act ought to introspect and take their places. We are perishing as a democracy..if we dont act now, we are all finished as a nation because the implications of inaction are dire. THANKS A LOT UD. O tlhapile matsogo.” Mmolotsi asserted.
Another Social Media commentator, known as Trinarh aslo shared Dow’s sentiments. Trinarh too is of the view that most of the mess Botswana finds herself in is the DISS fault. Trinarh agree with Dow that the country is suffering reputational harm because of the DISS, he said this quoting the Hundred Billion Pula (P100 Billion) money laundering case which to his view is the reason why Botswana got FATF graylisted.
“It is no secret that the grey listing that we are fresh from was all a result of DIS fabricated money laundering and terrorism sponsorship claims. The 100bn Butterfly case. It is no secret that our democracy ratings has drastically decreased all thanks to DIS which was used to first intimidate Mma Venson when she wanted to contest against Masisi for BDP presidency, used to harass and intimidate opposition leader Duma Boko enroute to 2019 elections, used to harass and intimidate opposition leaders including Arafat Khan enroute to 2019 elections, used to harass former president Ian Khama, former DIS director Isaac Kgosi, DIS agent Maswabi, of which in all cases the DIS fails to come up with a solid case and cases just disappear, and or the cases quickly mutate into different cases due to technical errors.” Trinarh highlighted.
