Recognition of former presidents: the case of Sir Ketumile Masire
Columns
Ndulamo Anthony Morima
EAGLE WATCH
Ordinarily, a former president is celebrated by his or her country, especially if he or she led the nation exceptionally well. Such recognition and celebration should not await the person’s death, but should be done during the person’s lifetime so that he or she truly experiences and relishes it.
Not only that. Such recognition and celebration is good for democracy because it serves as an incentive for serving presidents to govern well in order to reach the same heights that their predecessors reached or to even surpass them. In this article we consider whether or not we, as a people, accord our former presidents the recognition they deserve. We use the case of Sir Ketumile Masire.
But, who is Sir Ketumile Masire? To answer this question we steal, with limited adaptation, from his biographical information published in the Global Leadership Forum (GLF) website. Born on 23rd July 1925 in Kanye, Masire, a son of a minor headman, grew up in a community where male commoners, such as him, were expected to end up as low-paid migrant labourers in the South African mines.
Between 1949 and 1950 Masire was trained as a teacher at Tiger Kloof, in the former British Bechuanaland Protectorate and in 1950, after graduating from Tiger Kloof, he helped found the Seepapitso II Secondary School, the first institution of higher learning in the BaNgwaketse Reserve.
Masire served as the school's headmaster for about six years. During this period he clashed with Kgosi Bathoen II of BaNgwaketse. Resenting Bathoen II's many petty interferences in school affairs, Masire, working through the revived Bechuanaland African Teachers Association, became an advocate for the autonomy of protectorate schools from chiefly authority.
In 1956 Masire took up farming, and earned a Master Farmers Certificate and established himself as one of the territory's leading agriculturalists in 1957. His success led to renewed conflict with Kgosi Bathoen II, who seized Masire’s farms as punishment for alleged infraction of fencing communal land.
In 1958 Masire was appointed as the protectorate reporter for the African Echo/Naledi ya Botswana newspaper. He was also elected to the newly reformed BaNgwaketse Tribal Council and, after 1960, the protectorate-wide African and Legislative Councils.
Although Masire attended the first Kanye meeting of the Botswana People's Party (BPP), the earliest nationalist grouping to enjoy a mass following in the territory, he declined to join the party. Instead, in 1961 Masire, together with such stalwarts as Sir Seretse Khama, Moutlakgola Nwako, Goareng Mosinyi, Gaefalale Sebeso, Archeus Tsoebebe, Tsheko Tsheko, Englishman Kgabo, Ben Stienberg and Amos Dambe helped found the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Masire served as the BDP’s first Secretary General.
It is apposite that before we consider whether or not Masire is getting the recognition he deserves we should have a cursory discussion of the achievements and failures of his presidency. I say cursory because the achievements and failures of a person of Masire’s stature cannot be adequately discussed in an article of this sort. It requires a book.
In discussing Masire’s achievements and failures we consider his performance in the area of politics within the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP); his performance as Vice President and President; his performance in the international community; his general social life and his conduct after he retired as president.
First, his performance as a politician. Having been able to rise from the rank and file of the party until he became Secretary General, a position he held for many years, is a remarkable political achievement, especially considering that he was a commoner under the shadow of a powerful chief cum politician, the late Sir Seretse Khama.
The aforegoing notwithstanding, his political detractors blame him for a leadership style of favoritism and purging which led to the development of factionalism within the party. It is during his leadership, they contend, that factionalism was at its peak with the Kedikilwe/Kwelagobe and Nkate/Merafhe factions rising to the level of cults.
Secondly, his performance as Vice President and President. A commoner, teacher, journalist and newspaper editor, Masire, affectionately called Rra Gaone, rose through the ranks of his party, the BDP, until he became state president in 1980 following the death of our founding father, Sir Seretse Khama. He served as president until 1998 when he retired.
At a strategic and visionary level, Sir Ketumile Masire contributed to the development of our country’s founding pillars among them the endorsement of the national anthem composed by Kgalemang Tumediso Motsete; the endorsement of the national flag and the development of the four national principles being Democracy, Development, Unity and Self Reliance.
Still at a strategic level, Masire played a pivotal role in the determination of our motto “Pula” and the national symbol that entails the zebra, shield, water, the cow head, sorghum and the elephant task, symbols which indicate our reliance on wildlife, agriculture, water and our people’s will to defend themselves.
At an operational level, Rra Gaone contributed to the establishment of Botswana as a nation state by initiating legislation for enactment by Parliament; playing a leading role in the establishment of such institutions of state as Parliament, government ministries, the courts and such parastatal entities as the University of Botswana(UB) and Botswana Meat Commission (BMC). He also contributed to the discussion and decision on the establishment of our currency, the Pula and Thebe.
During his tenure as Vice President and Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Masire exercised prudence in fiscal and monetary policy, ensuring discipline in government expenditure. He was at the centre of Botswana’s decision to invest in foreign reserves and the establishment of the Pula Fund. Sticking to prudent economic fundamentals gave Botswana an economic head start, especially in a region tainted by financial imprudence.
Masire was at the centre of the development of programmes which saved Batswana from peril, especially during the years of drought. Some of the programmes he developed are the Accelerated Rainfed Arable Programme (ARAP), Arable Lands Development Programme (ALDEP), Services to Livestock Owners in Communal Areas (SLOCA) and the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP).
Considering that at its nascent stage Botswana had limited material and human resources Masire and his generation of leaders did not just stick to policy formulation as the Presidency and cabinet should, but descended to implementation because we had a limited and relatively unqualified and inexperienced civil service.
Some of the milestones that Masire will be remembered for are the establishment of such institutions supporting our democracy as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC); the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Ombudsman. Masire will also be remembered for bringing such electoral reforms as reducing the voting age from twenty one years to eighteen; introduction of the two-term presidential term limit and external balloting.
But, perhaps more poignantly, Masire will be remembered for pioneering the development of the nation’s long term vision, Vision 2016. This demonstrated that indeed Masire is a visionary who, despite the existence of National Development Plans (NDPs), recognized the need to rally the nation around one common set of aspirations for the future.
Thirdly, his performance in the international community. Together with such leaders as Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Masire was at the centre of the formation of such regional organizations as the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). During his tenure of office he was Chairman of SADC and Co-Chairperson of the Global Coalition for Africa. He also became the first Vice-Chairman of the OAU in 1991.
It is this belief in the strength of the community of nations that gained Masire international respect and recognition. Consequently, he played a mediatory role in Lesotho and Zaire when these countries were at the verge of collapse due to conflict and civil strife. His admirable mediatory role in Zaire earned him the nick name ‘MaZaire’.
Only people of honor and integrity can be entrusted with the duty to save an entire nation from collapse through mediation, especially during a time of armed conflict and civil war. Only a few like former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Anan, former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and our very own ‘MaZaire’ can earn such trust.
Fourthly, his general social life. Many a times, leaders, perhaps corrupted by power, live a life tainted by such vices as corruption and maladministration, alcohol abuse, adultery, self- exaltation and opulence. Such of Masire’s peers as Mabutho Se Seseko of Zaire and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe threw away the good work they did in their countries’ liberation because of greed and corruption.
Besides the unproven allegations that Masire’s decision for government to write-off the agricultural loans obtained by farmers from the National Development Bank (NDB) under the FAP programme was motivated by his interests in farming and that he has amassed too much farming land, Masire’s record in as far as corruption and maladministration are concerned is almost blemishless. This is indeed commendable for someone who served as state president for eighteen years.
Even at a personal level, Masire has never been accused of such vices as adultery, alcohol abuse, pride and self-exaltation. He remained married to his wife, Mma Gaone, until death did them part. They raised their children well and one of them, MmaSekgoa, made us proud by representing us in the Common Wealth of Nations as Deputy Secretary General. Unfortunately, she recently lost the elections for the Secretary Generalship by two votes, but she ran a good campaign.
Masire is known as a morally upright men who has remained down to earth despite his position. When in Kanye, his home village, he behaves like an ordinary tribesmen who shops in traditional stalls, called mabentlele in Setswana. The only ‘negative’ label he has earned in Kanye is that he is stingy, perhaps because instead of buying expensive things he buys cheap things from mabentlele.
Masire’s down to earth status is evidenced by the jokes he used to make while addressing kgotla meetings. One of the most popular is where it is said someone, in trying to demonstrate that the tarred road passing through his village is too narrow, said a person can jump across the road with little effort. In reply, Masire is reported to have said instead of wasting such talent the person should rather use his talent in long jump competitions and represent Botswana at the Olympics.
Fifthly, his conduct after retirement. Masire has remained a statesman by giving guidance and commenting on national issues. For example, the media has reported that he is deeply pained by the way president Khama and the BDP literally pushed the late Gomolemo Motswaledi out of the BDP; the way government handled the 2011 public sector strike and the abuse of the presidential automatic succession provision in the Constitution.
It is also reported that Masire is saddened by the development path Botswana is taking where government embarks on such unsustainable projects as Ipelegeng and the new Tirelo Sechaba programme which has abandoned the principles of the original Tirelo Sechaba which was indeed national service because it inculcated among the youth the spirit of nationhood while preparing them for the world of tertiary education and work.
Unfortunately, it is this continued statesmanship which has earned Masire the wrath of his own party. Masire is accused of breaking the convention in terms of which a former head of state should not meddle with government business. Reportedly, the BDP treats Masire like a stranger to the extent that it has labeled him as pro-Opposition and as one of the people who contributed to the spilt within the BDP which led to the formation of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) in 2010.
Consequently, it is reported, the BDP and president Khama do not listen to Masire’s advice since they regard him as an enemy. Reportedly, despite trying to advise president Khama on such issues as the Gomolemo Motswaledi suspension and the handling of the 2011 public sector strike such advice was shunned and he is accused of trying to rule from the grave.
In 2007, Masire set up the Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation to promote the social and economic well-being of the society of Botswana. The Foundation strives to facilitate and drive efforts to promote peace, good governance and political stability internationally; assist children with disabilities from birth; and promote innovation and alternatives in agriculture.
Masire has remained relevant internationally. He has been involved in numerous diplomatic missions in several African countries, including Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Swaziland. Between 1998 and 2000 he served as Chairman of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities Investigating the Circumstances Surrounding the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.
From 2000 to 2003 he was the facilitator for the Inter-Congolese National Dialogue, which had the objective of bringing about a new political dispensation for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in terms of the Lusaka Ceasefire Accord.
In May 2010 Masire led an African Union Election Observer Mission to the May 2010 Ethiopia Legislative Elections, and in October 2010 he co-led (with fellow GLF Member Joe Clark) a National Democratic Institute pre-election assessment mission in Nigeria, which identified a number of hurdles that could undermine a successful process surrounding the 2011 state and national elections.
Masire’s contributions have been mainly recognized by the international community. He has received Honorary Doctorates from University of Botswana, St John University, De Paul University, Williams College, Sussex University, University of Port Elizabeth, Ohio University, and Carlton College.
In 1989 Masire was awarded the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, the Grand Counsellor of the Royal Order of Sobhuza II (Swaziland), Honorary Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George (UK), and the Order of the Welwitschia (Namibia). In terms of memberships and associations Masire is the founder of the Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation, Co-Chairperson of the Global Coalition for Africa, Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Member of Club de Madrid and Member of the Africa Forum.
In view of Masire’s outstanding achievements as shown above, I was surprised when I recently realized that there is nothing Botswana has named in his honor. Not even when he celebrated his 90th birthday on 23rd July 2015. I say honor and not remembrance because I believe that our heroes and heroines should be celebrated during their lifetime and not only remembered when they are dead. A life not celebrated in life is a life killed.
Is it not an embarrassment that there is no single road, street, stadium, school, clinic or hospital named after Masire? Would we rather call our streets by such weird and divisive names as Ditimamolelo and Marapoathutwa than ‘Sir Ketumile Masire’? Would we rather name our streets and roads after foreign former presidents than our own former presidents?
Rra Gaone deserves to have something named after him during his lifetime and not when he has departed this world. So does former president Festus Gontebanye Mogae. And so does president Khama. Queen Elizabeth II did not wait for Sir Ketumile Masire to die before recognizing him. She knighted him in 1991, seven years before his retirement.
Columns
THE KEY TO HAPPINESS
Speaking at a mental health breakfast seminar last week I emphasised to the HR managerial audience that you cannot yoga your way out of a toxic work culture. What I meant by that was that as HR practitioners we must avoid tending to look at the soft options to address mental health issues, distractions such as yoga and meditation. That’s like looking for your lost bunch of keys, then opening the front door with the spare under the mat. You’ve solved the immediate problem, but all the other keys are still missing. Don’t get me wrong; mindfulness practices, yoga exercise and taking time to smell the roses all have their place in mental wellness but it’s a bit like hacking away at the blight-ridden leaves of the tree instead of getting to the root cause of the problem.
Another point I stressed was that mental health at work shouldn’t be looked at from the individual lens – yet that’s what we do. We have counselling of employees, wellness webinars or talks but if you really want to sort out the mental health crisis that we face in our organisations you HAVE to view this more systemically and that means looking at the system and that starts with the leaders and managers.
Now. shining a light on management may not be welcomed by many. But leaders control the flow of work and set the goals and expectations that others need to live up to. Unrealistic expectations, excessive workloads and tight deadlines increase stress and force people to work longer hours … some of the things which contribute to poor mental health. Actually, we know from research exactly what contributes to a poor working environment – discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity – all of which pose a risk to mental health. The list goes on and is pretty exhaustive but here are the major ones: under-use of skills or being under-skilled for work; excessive workloads or work pace, understaffing; long, unsocial or inflexible hours; lack of control over job design or workload; organizational culture that enables negative behaviours; limited support from colleagues or authoritarian supervision; discrimination and exclusion; unclear job role; under- or over-promotion; job insecurity.
And to my point no amount of yoga is going to change that.
We can use the word ‘toxic’ to describe dysfunctional work environments and if our workplaces are toxic we have to look at the people who set the tone. Harder et al. (2014) define a toxic work environment as an environment that negatively impacts the viability of an organization. They specify: “It is reasonable to conclude that an organization can be considered toxic if it is ineffective as well as destructive to its employees”.
Micromanagement and/or failure to reward or recognize performance are the most obvious signs of toxic managers. These managers can be controlling, inflexible, rigid, close-minded, and lacking in self-awareness. And let’s face it managers like those I have just described are plentiful. Generally, however there is often a failure by higher management to address toxic leaders when they are considered to be high performing. This kind of situation can be one of the leading causes of unhappiness in teams. I have coached countless employees who talk about managers with bullying ways which everyone knows about, yet action is never taken. It’s problematic when we overlook unhealthy dynamics and behaviours because of high productivity or talent as it sends a clear message that the behaviour is acceptable and that others on the team will not be supported by leadership.
And how is the HR Manager viewed when they raise the unacceptable behaviour with the CEO – they are accused of not being a team player, looking for problems or failing to understand business dynamics and the need to get things done. Toxic management is a systemic problem caused when companies create cultures around high-performance and metrics vs. long-term, sustainable, healthy growth. In such instances the day-to-day dysfunction is often ignored for the sake of speed and output. While short-term gains are rewarded, executives fail to see the long-term impact of protecting a toxic, but high-performing, team or employee. Beyond this, managers promote unhealthy workplace behaviour when they recognize and reward high performers for going above and beyond, even when that means rewarding the road to burnout by praising a lack of professional boundaries (like working during their vacation and after hours).
The challenge for HR Managers is getting managers to be honest with themselves and their teams about the current work environment. Honesty is difficult, I’m afraid, especially with leaders who are overly sensitive, emotional, or cannot set healthy boundaries. But here’s the rub – no growth or change can occur if denial and defensiveness are used to protect egos. Being honest about these issues helps garner trust among employees, who already know the truth about what day-to-day dynamics are like at work. They will likely be grateful that cultural issues will finally be addressed. Conversely, if they aren’t addressed, retention failure is the cost of protecting egos of those in management.
Toxic workplace culture comes at a huge price: even before the Great Resignation, turnover related to toxic workplaces cost US employers almost $50 billion yearly! I wonder what it’s costing us here.
QUOTE
We can use the word ‘toxic’ to describe dysfunctional work environments and if our workplaces are toxic we have to look at the people who set the tone. Harder et al. (2014) define a toxic work environment as an environment that negatively impacts the viability of an organization. They specify: “It is reasonable to conclude that an organization can be considered toxic if it is ineffective as well as destructive to its employees”.
Columns
Heartache for Kelly Fisher
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o date, Princess Diana, General Atiku, had destroyed one marriage, come close to ruining another one in the offing, and now was poised to wreck yet another marriage that was already in the making. This was between Dodi Fayed and the American model Kelly Fisher.
If there was one common denominator about Diana and Dodi besides their having been born with a silver spoon in their mouths, General, it was that both were divorcees. Dodi’s matrimonial saga, however, was less problematic and acrimonious and lasted an infinitesimal 8 months. This was with yet another American model and film actress going by the name Susanne Gregard.
Dodi met Susanne in 1986, when she was only 26 years old. Like most glamourous women, she proved not to be that easy a catch and to readily incline her towards positively and expeditiously responding to his rather gallant advances, Dodi booked her as a model for the Fayed’s London mega store Harrods, where he had her travel every weekend by Concorde. They married at a rather private ceremony at Dodi’s Colorado residence in 1987 on New Year’s Day, without the blessings, bizarrely, of his all-powerful father. By September the same year, the marriage was, for reasons that were not publicised but likely due to the fact that his father had not sanctioned it, kaput.
It would take ten more years for Dodi to propose marriage to another woman, who happened to be Kelly Fisher this time around.
DODI HITCHES KELLY FISHER
Kelly and Dodi, General, met in Paris in July 1996, when Kelly was only 29 years old. In a sort of whirlwind romance, the duo fell in love, becoming a concretised item in December and formally getting engaged in February 1997.
Of course the relationship was not only about mutual love: the material element was a significant, if not vital, factor. Kelly was to give up her modelling job just so she could spend a lot more time with the new man in her life and for that she was to be handed out a compensatory reward amounting to $500,000. The engagement ring for one, which was a diamond and sapphire affair, set back Dodi in the order of $230,000. Once they had wedded, on August 9 that very year as per plan, they were to live in a $7 million 5-acre Malibu Beach mansion in California, which Dodi’s father had bought him for that and an entrepreneurial purpose. They were already even talking about embarking on making a family from the get-go: according to Kelly, Dodi wanted two boys at the very least.
Kelly naturally had the unambiguous blessings of her father-in-law as there was utterly nothing Dodi could do without the green light from the old man. When Mohamed Al Fayed was contemplating buying the Jonikal, the luxurious yacht, he invited Dodi and Kelly to inspect it too and hear their take on it.
If there was a tell-tale red flag about Dodi ab initio, General, it had to do with a $200,000 cheque he issued to Kelly as part payment of the pledged $500,000 and which was dishonoured by the bank. Throughout their 13-month-long romance, Dodi made good on only $60,000 of the promised sum. But love, as they say, General, is blind and Kelly did not care a jot about her beau’s financial indiscretions. It was enough that he was potentially a very wealthy man anyway being heir to his father’s humongous fortune.
KELLY CONSIGNED TO “BOAT CAGE”
In that summer of the year 1997, General, Dodi and Kelly were to while away quality time on the French Rivierra as well as the Jonikal after Paris. Then Dodi’s dad weighed in and put a damper on this prospect in a telephone call to Dodi on July 14. “Dodi said he was going to London and he’d be back and then we were going to San Tropez,” Kelly told the interviewer in a later TV programme. “That evening he didn’t call me and I finally got him on his portable phone. I said, ‘Dodi where are you?’ and he said he was in London. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll call you right back at your apartment’. He said, ‘No, no, don’t call me back’. So I said, ‘Dodi where are you?’ and he admitted he was in the south of France. His father had asked him to come down and not bring me, I know now.”
Since Dodi could no longer hide from Kelly and she on her part just could not desist from badgering him, he had no option but to dispatch a private Fayed jet to pick her up so that she join him forthwith in St. Tropez. This was on July 16.
Arriving in St. Tropez, Kelly, General, did not lodge at the Fayed’s seaside villa as was her expectation but was somewhat stashed in the Fayed’s maritime fleet, first in the Sakara, and later in the Cujo, which was moored only yards from the Fayed villa. It was in the Cujo Kelly spent the next two nights with Dodi. “She (Kelly) felt there was something strange going on as Dodi spent large parts of the day at the family’s villa, Castel St. Helene, but asked her to stay on the boat,” writes Martyn Gregory in The Diana Conspiracy Exposed. “Dodi was sleeping with Kelly at night and was courting Diana by day. His deception was assisted by Kelly Fisher’s modelling assignment on 18-20 July in Nice. The Fayed’s were happy to lend her the Cujo and its crew for three days to take her there.”
Dodi’s behaviour clearly was curious, General. “Dodi would say, ‘I’m going to the house and I’ll be back in half an hour’,” Kelly told Gregory. “And he’d come back three or four hours later. I was furious. I’m sitting on the boat, stuck. And he was having lunch with everyone. So he had me in my little boat cage, and I now know he was seducing Diana. So he had me, and then he would go and try and seduce her, and then he’d come back the next day and it would happen again. I was livid by this point, and I just didn’t understand what was going on. When he was with me, he was so wonderful. He said he loved me, and we talked to my mother, and we were talking about moving into the house in California.”
But as is typical of the rather romantically gullible tenderer sex, General, Kelly rationalised her man’s stratagems. “I just thought they maybe didn’t want a commoner around the Princess … Dodi kept leaving me behind with the excuse that the Princess didn’t like to meet new people.” During one of those nights, General, Dodi even had unprotected sexual relations with Kelly whilst cooing in her ear that, “I love you so much and I want you to have my baby.”
KELLY USHERED ONTO THE JONIKAL AT LONG LAST
On July 20, General, Diana returned to England and it was only then that Dodi allowed Kelly to come aboard the Jonikal. According to Debbie Gribble, who was the Jonikal’s chief stewardess, Kelly was kind of grumpy. “I had no idea at the time who she was, but I felt she acted very spoiled,” she says in Trevor Rees-Jones’ The Bodyguard’s Story. “I remember vividly that she snapped, ‘I want to eat right now. I don’t want a drink, I just want to eat now’. It was quite obvious that she was upset, angry or annoyed about something.”
Kelly’s irascible manner of course was understandable, General, given the games Dodi had been playing with her since she pitched up in St. Tropez. Granted, what happened to Kelly was very much antithetical to Dodi’s typically well-mannered nature, but the fact of the matter was that she simply was peripheral to the larger agenda, of which Dodi’s father was the one calling the shots.
On July 23, Dodi and Kelly flew to Paris, where they parted as Kelly had some engagements lined up in Los Angeles. Dodi promised to join her there on August 4 to celebrate with her her parents’ marriage anniversary. Dodi, however, General, did not make good on his promise: though he did candidly own up to the fact that he was at that point in time again with Diana, he also fibbed that he was not alone with her but was partying with her along with Elton John and George Michael. But in a August 6 phone call, he did undertake to Kelly that he would be joining her in LA in a few days’ time. In the event, anyway, General, Kelly continued to ready herself for her big day, which was slated for August 9 – until she saw “The Kiss”.
THE KISS THAT NEVER WAS
“The Kiss”, General, first featured in London’s Sunday Mirror on August 10 under that very headline. In truth, General, it was not a definitive, point-blank kiss: it was a fuzzy image of Diana and Dodi embracing on the Jonikal. A friend of Kelly faxed her the newspaper pictures in the middle of the night and Kelly was at once stunned and convulsed with rage.
But although Kelly was shocked, General, she was not exactly surprised as two or three days prior, British tabloids had already begun rhapsodising on a brewing love affair between Dodi and Diana. That day, Kelly had picked up a phone to demand an immediate explanation from her fiancé. “I started calling him in London because at this time I was expecting his arrival in a day. I called his private line, but there was no answer. So then I called the secretary and asked to speak to him she wouldn’t put me on. So Mohamed got on and in so many horrible words told me to never call back again. I said, ‘He’s my fiancé, what are you talking about?’ He hung up on me and I called back and the secretary said don’t ever call here again, your calls are no longer to be put through. It was so horrible.”
Kelly did at long last manage to reach Dodi but he was quick to protest that, “I can’t talk to you on the phone. I will talk to you in LA.” Perhaps Dodi, General, just at that stage was unable to muster sufficient Dutch courage to thrash out the matter with Kelly but a more credible reason he would not talk had to do with his father’s obsessive bugging of every communication device Dodi used and every inch of every property he owned. The following is what David Icke has to say on the subject in his iconic book The Biggest Secret:
“Ironically, Diana used to have Kensington Palace swept for listening devices and now she was in the clutches of a man for whom bugging was an obsession. The Al Fayed villa in San Tropez was bugged, as were all Fayed properties. Everything Diana said could be heard. Bob Loftus, the former Head of Security at Harrods, said that the bugging there was ‘a very extensive operation’ and was also always under the direction of Al Fayed. Henry Porter, the London Editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, had spent two years investigating Al Fayed and he said they came across his almost obsessive use of eavesdropping devices to tape telephone calls, bug rooms, and film people.”
Through mutual friends, General, Porter warned Diana about Al Fayed’s background and activities ‘because we thought this was quite dangerous for her for obvious reasons’ but Diana apparently felt she could handle it and although she knew Al Fayed could ‘sometimes be a rogue’, he was no threat to her, she thought. “He is rather more than a rogue and rather more often than ‘sometimes,” she apparently told friends. “I know he’s naughty, but that’s all.” The TV programme Dispatches said they had written evidence that Al Fayed bugged the Ritz Hotel and given his background and the deals that are hatched at the Ritz, it would be uncharacteristic if he did not. Kelly Fisher said that the whole time she was on Fayed property, she just assumed everything was bugged. It was known, she said, and Dodi had told her the bugging was so pervasive.
KELLY SUES, ALBEIT VAINLY SO
To his credit, General, Dodi was sufficiently concerned about what had transpired in St. Tropez to fly to LA and do his utmost to appease Kelly but Kelly simply was not interested as to her it was obvious enough that Diana was the new woman in his life.
On August 14, Kelly held a press conference in LA, where she announced that she was taking legal action against Dodi for breach of matrimonial contract. Her asking compensation price was £340,000. Of course the suit, General, lapsed automatically with the demise of Dodi in that Paris underpass on August 31, 1997.
Although Kelly did produce evidence of her engagement to Dodi in the form of a pricey and spectacular engagement ring, General, Mohamed Al Fayed was adamant that she never was engaged to his son and that she was no more than a gold digger.
But it is all water under the bridge now, General: Kelly is happily married to a pilot and the couple has a daughter. Her hubby may not be half as rich as Dodi potentially was but she is fully fulfilled anyway. Happiness, General, comes in all shades and does not necessarily stem from a colossal bank balance or other such trappings of affluence.
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THE SHORT-LIVED TRIANGLE: For about a month or so, Dodi Al Fayed juggled Princess Diana and American model Kelly Fisher, who sported Dodi’s engagement ring. Of course one of the two had to give and naturally it could not be Diana, who entered the lists in the eleventh hour but was the more precious by virtue of her royal pedigree and surpassing international stature.
NEXT WEEK: FURTHER BONDING BETWEEN DIANA AND DODI
Columns
EXTRAVAGANCE One of The Scourges in Society.
Extravagance in recent times has moved from being the practice of some rich and wealthy people of society in general and has regrettably, filtered to all levels of the society. Some of those who have the means are reckless and flaunt their wealth, and consequently, those of us who do not, borrow money to squander it in order to meet their families’ wants of luxuries and unnecessary items. Unfortunately this is a characteristic of human nature.
Adding to those feelings of inadequacy we have countless commercials to whet the consumer’s appetite/desire to buy whatever is advertised, and make him believe that if he does not have those products he will be unhappy, ineffective, worthless and out of tune with the fashion and trend of the times. This practice has reached a stage where many a bread winner resorts to taking loans (from cash loans or banks) with high rates of interest, putting himself in unnecessary debt to buy among other things, furniture, means of transport, dress, food and fancy accommodation, – just to win peoples’ admiration.
Islam and most religions discourage their followers towards wanton consumption. They encourage them to live a life of moderation and to dispense with luxury items so they will not be enslaved by them. Many people today blindly and irresponsibly abandon themselves to excesses and the squandering of wealth in order to ‘keep up with the Joneses’.
The Qur’aan makes it clear that allowing free rein to extravagance and exceeding the limits of moderation is an inherent characteristic in man. Allah says, “If Allah were to enlarge the provision for his servants, they would indeed transgress beyond all bounds.” [Holy Qur’aan 42: 27]
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Observe the middle course whereby you will attain your objective (that is paradise).” – Moderation is the opposite of extravagance.
Every individual is meant to earn in a dignified manner and then spend in a very wise and careful manner. One should never try to impress upon others by living beyond one’s means. Extravagance is forbidden in Islam, Allah says, “Do not be extravagant; surely He does not love those who are extravagant!” [Holy Qur’aan 7: 31]
The Qur’aan regards wasteful buying of food, extravagant eating that sometimes leads to throwing away of leftovers as absolutely forbidden. Allah says, “Eat of the fruits in their season, but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. And waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.” [Holy Qur’aan 6: 141]
Demonstrating wastefulness in dress, means of transport, furniture and any other thing is also forbidden. Allah says, “O children of Adam! Wear your apparel of adornment at every time and place of worship, and eat and drink but do not be extravagant; surely He does not love those who are extravagant!” [Holy Qur’aan 7: 31]
Yet extravagance and the squandering of wealth continue to grow in society, while there are many helpless and deprived peoples who have no food or shelter. Just look around you here in Botswana.
Have you noticed how people squander their wealth on ‘must have’ things like designer label clothes, fancy brand whiskey, fancy top of the range cars, fancy society parties or even costly weddings, just to make a statement? How can we prevent the squandering of such wealth?
How can one go on spending in a reckless manner possibly even on things that have been made forbidden while witnessing the suffering of fellow humans whereby thousands of people starve to death each year. Islam has not forbidden a person to acquire wealth, make it grow and make use of it. In fact Islam encourages one to do so. It is resorting to forbidden ways to acquiring and of squandering that wealth that Islam has clearly declared forbidden. On the Day of Judgment every individual will be asked about his wealth, where he obtained it and how he spent it.
In fact, those who do not have any conscience about their wasteful habits may one day be subjected to Allah’s punishment that may deprive them of such wealth overnight and impoverish them. Many a family has been brought to the brink of poverty after leading a life of affluence. Similarly, many nations have lived a life of extravagance and their people indulged in such excesses only to be later inflicted by trials and tribulations to such a point that they wished they would only have a little of what they used to possess!
With the festive season and the new year holidays having passed us, for many of us meant ‘one’ thing – spend, spend, spend. With the festivities and the celebrations over only then will the reality set in for many of us that we have overspent, deep in debt with nothing to show for it and that the following months are going to be challenging ones.
Therefore, we should not exceed the bounds when Almighty bestows His bounties upon us. Rather we should show gratefulness to Him by using His bestowments and favours in ways that prove our total obedience to Him and by observing moderation in spending. For this will be better for us in this life and the hereafter.