In 1999, he brought in Baledzi Gaolathe, Satar Dada, Pelonomi Venson, and Shirley Segokgo. That team passed the gender test, but flunked the youth one. Of the quartet, only Segokgo could be said to have been a concession to the youth constituency. At the time, Mogae probably had other considerations - other than bringing younger people into Parliament - that informed his choice. At the ministry of finance and development planning, Mogae wanted a prudent and disciplined financial manager made in his image. It was a suit tailor-made for Gaolathe. By all accounts, the former governor of Bank of Botswana has performed to Mogae’s satisfaction. He is - besides Vice President Ian Khama - the only member of the cabinet who sleeps well at night with the full knowledge that he will still have his current job after the elections.
Popular lore says Dada was being rewarded for being an able fundraiser for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party.
And Venson? Well, she was always going to be an excellent cabinet member to augment the personnel that the voters had placed at the President’s disposal. Five years back, she also enjoyed Khama’s support. One common thing about Dada, Venson, and Segokgo was that they were associates of the BDP secretary general Daniel Kwelagobe.
That was then.
Today, so much has changed. The dynamics that dictated who got the presidential nod have shifted. There has also been a realignment of the party’s camps.
Most party structures have slipped from the hands of Kwelagobe’s people. They are now under the control of the group that has pegged its political future to Khama’s rise in the party. This is the group that fought to have Khama replace Ponatshego Kedikilwe as party chairman at last year’s congress in Gantsi. After publicly backing Khama’s campaign for the chairmanship, Mogae is associated with this group as well.
When Mogae does a check on the background of the people presented to him to consider for special nomination, the first consideration will be absolute loyalty. This is important because there is still unfinished business between the two BDP factions. And its conclusion will be determined by numbers. Whichever group has more members in the parliamentary caucus will determine the next Speaker of the National assembly. Mogae needs more MPs that are aligned to him in that caucus to ensure that his deputy and designated successor - Khama - gets the mandatory parliamentary endorsement to continue in the job.
With Mogae going for his last lap (after declaring that he would serve 10 years to the day he became president), Khama will be closely involved in most major decisions because this is the team that he will inherit. That further underscores that the nominated MPs will have be people Khama is comfortable with.
Among the punted names is Gloria Somolekae, the chairperson of the National Council of Vision 2016. A former senior lecturer of political science at University of Botswana, she was said to be in the race five years ago, but didn’t make the last four. This year, she stands a better chance.
Thought to be a clear favourite is another academic, Sheila Tlou, because of her credentials in an area that Mogae has made the priority of his presidency - the fight against HIV/AIDS. She is head of UB’s HIV/AIDS programme, and chairperson of the BDP’s sub-committee on HIV/AIDS. As a health professional (she is a professor of nursing education), she is seen as the ideal successor to Joy Phumaphi at the Ministry of Health. While the current minister, Lesego Motsumi is clearly out of depth, Tlou will fit in easily.
Political decisions are the stuff of surprises, which may explain mention of Tebelelo Seretse’s name. Her supporters say she should be treated with the same courtesy accorded Venson in 1999. Venson got a special nomination after losing the BDP’s primary elections for Serowe South to Seretse. The result was reversed in this year’s duel between the two women. Seretse is also being linked with a possible diplomatic posting to one of Botswana’s prestigious missions - most likely the United Nations.
In the men’s affair, it is a crowded field. Names that crop up include those of Bernard Bolele, Gomolemo Motswaledi, Segaetsho Garekwe, Isaac Seloko, Botsalo Ntuane and Louis Nchindo.
Bolele, Motswaledi, Seloko and Ntuane are contemporaries - all in their 30s - who helped tame the UB campus when it was heresy to be a BDP activist on campus.
Bolele chairs the BDP’s political education and elections sub-committee, which is one of the most influential structures in the party.
The immediate past chairman of the BDP youth wing, Motswaledi is among those credited with making the party appeal to the youth. His work in the cultural field, as a composer and choir conductor, has brought him national fame. What could work against Motswaledi is that he is in the wrong faction. He is a Kedikilwe man. Some even suggest that he is the camp’s chief strategist.
Ntuane, the executive secretary, has done well as the party’s chief spin-doctor. This year, he will be taking the party to the general elections for the second time. He is a Mogae loyalist, who is thought to be above the factions - possibly due to his portfolio as the party’s chief executive. Ntuane has history on his side. Two of his predecessors, Kebatlamang Morake and Clara Olsen, went to Parliament by special nomination.
Seloko and Garekwe are both members of the central committee who are known to be sympathetic to Khama’s camp. In the run-up to the Gantsi congress, Garekwe was Khama’s campaign manager. For many years, Garekwe was a pariah who operated in the periphery after his 1988 conviction for theft of BDP funds when he was deputy executive secretary. During the trial, he made sensational claims that he had used the money, not for personal benefit, but to buy defectors from the opposition. He claimed that the money had been used to “choke, cripple, and bring confusion upon the opposition parties”. He is another casualty of the primary elections.
Nchindo, a personal friend to both Mogae and Khama, will be out of a job when Blackie Marole takes over as managing director of Debswana. For him, a special nomination to Parliament is said not to be a priority. He has a very low opinion of the rough and tumble of frontline politics. His major interest is to be a special roving envoy to lobby for Botswana’s interests abroad. If he is granted his wish, that would help clear the ground for Mogae to choose a quartet that will pass the youth test.
