Masire, Quett Ketumile

Quett Masire was born in 1925 in Kanye , becoming the first-born in the family of a local livestock owner. Until the age of 13, he was engaged in grazing, only then starting to attend school, but during his studies he demonstrated such abilities that in 1944 he received a state scholarship to continue his education at Tiger-Klof High School in South Africa . After the death of his parents in 1946, he abandoned plans to enter the university and instead continued his studies at Tiger Klof ^[6] , having received a teacher’s diploma in 1949 ^[7] and after taking care of his five younger brothers and sisters ^{[6] ]} .

In 1950, Masireh became one of the founders and first director of the Sepatice II Secondary School, the first school to offer secondary education in the Bakvangets region. As director of the school, he fought against the intervention of the local leader (kgosi) Batun II in school affairs and became a staunch defender of the autonomy of state schools of the Bechuanaland protectorate from tribal authorities ^[8] . At the same time, he retained a lively interest in agriculture and left teaching in 1955 after he was able to afford the purchase of a tractor. Introducing new farming methods at his site, Masire achieved high yields and in 1957 became the first African to receive a master's degree in agriculture. At this point, he established himself as a public figure and was regularly elected to various local commissions, and in 1958 he became the publisher of the African Echo / Naledi ya Batswana newspaper , which brought him wider fame. Shortly thereafter, he was elected to the regional council of Ngwahece County , the African Council and the Legislative Council ^[6] (the latter two were common structures of the protectorate ^[8] ).

Despite Masire interest in at the beginning of his activity in Kanye, he refused to join her, in 1961 becoming a member of the Bechuanaland Democratic Party in the early stages of its formation and its first secretary general ^[8] . The party leader, Seretse Khama , saw Masire as its leading representative and agitator in the southern regions. Masireh used his network of newspaper correspondents to increase the number of party members and strengthen its influence. In parallel, he also began to publish the party newspaper Terisanyo a Botswana . The “Botswana Historical Dictionary” reports that from the very beginning, a faction of supporters of meritocracy and a government formed of social activists focused around the Masire party ^[6] .

In 1966, after Botswana gained sovereignty, Masireh was elected to its parliament , and then was appointed Minister of Finance and Planning, as well as Vice President , becoming the first person to hold this post. Under him, a program was adopted to overcome economic backwardness, which was based on the involvement of expatriate economists. Foreign aid, loans and income from the mining industry were aimed at the development of education, healthcare, energy and transport infrastructure; Emerging industries received state protection. The program for the development of commercially successful agriculture and the achievement of state self-sufficiency in food production, developed during the same period, was less successful ^[9] . At the same time, Masire’s programs to accelerate the development of fertile land and support livestock farms have helped Botswana successfully survive the dry years. As Minister of Finance, he made sure that the costly part of the state budget was reasonable, avoiding unnecessary expenses ^[8] . Masireh's economic activity provoked dissatisfaction with the tribal elite of Botswana, of which President Khama was also a native. However, despite Masire’s resignation demands, Khama continued to trust him and cooperate fruitfully with him, even after he lost the next parliamentary election to his old adversary Batun II in 1969. In 1974 and 1979, Masire again managed to get into parliament, having won in the district of Bangwack, and strengthened his position in the country's leadership and popularity in society ^[10] .

In 1980, after Khama’s death, Masire confidently won the party’s elections and until the end of the unfinished presidency, Khama occupied the presidency, winning the general election in 1984 on his own. He remained president until 1998, continuing to win elections every four years, before national law limited the maximum time for presidency to two five-year terms. ^[9]

During the presidency of Masire, Botswana's economy continued to grow, and the welfare of the population grew. The Masire government continued to strengthen investments in the development of infrastructure and social services ^[10] . The positions of key public institutions such as the Independent Electoral Commission, the post of Ombudsman and the Office for the Fight against Corruption and Economic Crimes have been strengthened ^[8] . During these years, the country was characterized by steady rapid economic growth and political stability ^[5] . At the international level, Masire headed the South African Development Society and the World Coalition for Africa and served as vice chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) ^[7] . His role in resolving the conflict between Lesotho and Zaire earned him the nickname "Mazaira" ^[8] . In 1991, Masire was promoted to chivalry by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain ^[7] . At the same time, his government was criticized for favoritism ^[8] , corruption and internal intrigues (in particular, the struggle for the inheritance of power after the upcoming resignation of Masire himself), as well as for a belated reaction to the AIDS epidemic ^[10] .

In 1998, Masire resigned early, the new president was the vice president of the country Festus Mogae . After retiring, Masire returned to farming, but often acted as a diplomat at the international level. In particular, he headed the international collegium of investigation of the 1994 genocide formed by the OAU in 1999-2000 in Rwanda , and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo acted as an intermediary between the factions. His efforts contributed to the formation of a coalition government in 2003 and the adoption of a new constitution in 2006. In 2007, he was appointed mediator of the post-election dialogue in Lesotho from the South African Development Society. In 2010, he led the observation missions of the OAU and the National Democratic Institute in the elections in Ethiopia and Nigeria ^[8] . In the last years of his life, he acted as an intermediary between the warring parties during the crisis in Mozambique that followed the 2014 elections , the results of which the RENAMO party refused to recognize ^[5] . In domestic politics, Masireh gradually became a notable critic of the current course of the Democratic Party, whose functionaries characterize him as an oppositionist and culprit in the party’s split, which led to the formation of the in 2010 ^[8] .

From his wife, Gladys Olebile, Quett Masire had six children ^[7] . One of his daughters, Sekgoa, represented Botswana in the Commonwealth of Nations , serving as deputy secretary general. ^[8] Masire died at the Bokamoso hospital in Gaborone in June 2017 at the age of 91 ^[5] .

• Fred Morton, Jeff Ramsay, Part Themba Mgadla. Masire, Sir Quett Ketumile Joni // Historical Dictionary of Botswana. - Scarecrow Press, 2008 .-- P. 208-211. - ISBN 978-0-8108-5467-3 .

• Botswana: Ketumile Joni Masire ( Neopr .) . African Democracy Encyclopaedia Project . Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa. Date of treatment June 21, 2017.