Mompati Merafhe

"You are in the spotlight."

"It is important that all stakeholders in the electoral process play their rightful roles to ensure that the wishes of the people of Malawi to chose those who will lead them is done in a free, peaceful and credible manner."

"Our presence here is a demonstration of the Commonwealth’s commitment to work with member states to support the strengthening and deepening of democracy."

"Our general sense is that there seems to be a positive mood and people are looking forward to going out to cast their vote next week. It is the duty of all stakeholders to ensure that this positive mood is carried through to the end of the process."

"I was walking a tight rope."

"I found myself in a very precarious position of having to fulfill my role as Chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and not jeopardizing Botswana’s relationship with Zimbabwe."

"I do not believe in the notion that Botswana is Africa’s best kept secret. I think that, small as we are, we should be more outward looking in our international relations."

"I lay down the rules."

"If you ask me what the population of Indonesia is or any country in the world, I will tell you."

"I go all the way to inform myself. To market Botswana, I have to understand details. People do not like abstracts."

"Reading is my hobby. No document passes without me reading it. I try to inform myself and when my car radio is not working, the car is not working."

"This was a turning point in my career."

"I skipped some ranks. I do not know how it feels like to be a Senior Superintendent because I moved straight from Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner of Police."

"What was supposed to bean election turned out to be somethingelse. Our brothers and sistershave let us down."

"When you are dealing with a government,and especially when you are agroup of countries like SADC,you rely on the goodwill of everybody;you would expect all thestakeholders to come on board butyou cannot give any instructionsto an independent state no matterhow violently you disagree withthe way they are doing things. Sowe can only use our powers ofpersuasion."

"They arecalled the principles or guidelinesof SADC on the observation ofthe elections. The elections haveto be fair, peaceful, transparent,credible and free. These principlesdetermine the worth of an electionbut the Zimbabwe case hasbeen classifi ed as free and peacefuland it is fair there was peace."

"The elections were violence shy.But the other three criteria werecertainly lacking. You cannot saythey were transparent, you cannotsay they were fair and you cannotsay they were credible."

"We are proud of these achievements and of the support given to us by Japan as the world’s second largest market for diamonds."

"It is our view that Africa should not try to undermine the work of the ICC simply because one head of state called Bashir has been indicted by the Court."

"Differences of views become a problem when they erupt into outright hostilities and threaten to tear the group apart; when virtual parties form within a party. That is exactly what happened to the BDP."

"If we had not been the founding government and if our economy had been a basket case, the electorate would have sent us packing in the 1994 elections without much ado."

"Nobody has lost What has won is our ability as Batswana and Namibians to resolve differences peacefully."