Multi-party democracy implies a government of many parties. The concept that there must be many parties in the Constitution of a democratic government underlines the fact that people by nature have diverse views as to how best they should be ruled. In addition times change and so people change their orientation. Life is not static, but dynamic.
At a BDP seminar in 1983, the late Dr QKJ Masire is reported in these words to define democracy: “Democracy is nothing new in this country. We have always practised it at our Kgotlas. You will know that this democratic concept is implied in the Setswana saying: Mmua-lebe o bua la gagwe… That means everyone has the right to speak his mind. It doesn’t matter how disagreeably you regard his point of view. And at our Kgotla meetings, men and women irrespective of their social standing, contributed to the debates on matters of public interest. We have therefore blended our democratic tradition with the modern political system..” Democracy at work .. (A Dialogue between Political theory and Practice).
