Violet Sephotho as a political analogy?

Or was it an accidental analogy?

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Aisha: Number 17 in the series…

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Zahara: Of?

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Aisha: I’m talking about the Number One Ladies Detective Agency. The author claims to be non-political, but I can’t help but wonder about the ending of Precious and Grace.

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Zahara: Where Violet Sephotho wins the election by buying votes?

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Aisha: And he writes, “How could Botswana, of all places, choose as Woman of the Year a person as self-seeking as Violet Sephotho? Did people not realize? Were people such poor judges of character as to be unable to see Violet for what she was?”

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Zahara: Yes, but the reply is, “There are many things in this world that are not right.”

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Voice-over

Was it a coincidence that Precious and Grace appeared in September 2016 just before the U.S. elections were being decided? Did Alexander McCall Smith have a notion that the US presidential election would be won by Donald Trump overturning standards of decent behavior? Could he have been alluding to Hillary Clinton as being a self-seeking politician? Was he referring to what goes on in many other places in the world? Or did he intend no allegory at all?

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