BULAWAYO – Donald Trump’s American presidency is “a disaster, it’s chaos”, according to former Botswana President Ian Khama.
Khama said Trump’s recklessness with words would have consequences on the United States’ relationship with other nations.
The former Botswana leader, who stepped down as President in May this year after completing two terms, was speaking in Bulawayo at the annual congress of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, while emphasizing the importance of credible political leadership.
He told the gathering of business executives: “Even though politics is the way, are we politicians really the right people to be leading countries at the end of the day? Is this the best we can do where people can come in, having no background or experience and next thing he’s a president? Then you start having a character like Donald Trump running an economy like the United States. It’s a disaster. It’s chaos.
“At the end of every day, there’s something chaotic happening and there are going to be things happening in that country and the rest of the world – consequences for that country and the western world as a result of that kind of situation.”
International diplomacy under the Trump presidency has been played out on Twitter, where he has threatened countries like Canada, Iran and North Korea.
In other comments that later came to light, he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting on immigration with a bipartisan group of Senators at the White House.
That comment, in January when Khama was still President, drew a sharp reaction from Botswana’s government which said Trump had made “reprehensible and racist” comments. Botswana summoned the US ambassador to clarify whether the country was included as those referred to as “shitholes”.
