Molapise’s competing interests
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday August 16, 2021 06:00
If it was not for the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that has left the country grappling with a third wave in which the Delta variant is killing people, Molapise would have long called an elective conference for the party to choose a new leadership.
He is not in a hurry though, but he strongly feels he has run his race as both the BPP president and the chairperson of the opposition tri-party coalition, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
One of the two parties that continue to compete for attention of the veteran politician Molapise, had to suffer in the process. It seems the BPP has suffered the more as a result of the competing interests. This is a party whose fortunes have been on an accelerated downfall.
Molapise rose to the leadership of the BPP in the midst of a crisis that had gripped the party in 2000. He had witnessed the entire BPP central committee defecting to the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) en masse, before it later joined the BCP. He took over from another opposition political firebrand, Knight Maripe.
Actually, within the party ranks at the time, no one was willing to take charge of one of the country’s oldest parties dogged by dwindling fortunes.
It was in 2003, however, that the youthful Bernard Balikani stepped up to the plate with promises of rescuing the BPP from its sinking political ship.
He also ran his race and witnessed the BPP further shrinking into a purely regional party based in the North-East. This is despite that the BPP used to control the strategic councils of the North East and Francistown and had strong presence in other constituencies. The party's influence continued to wane dramatically.
In 2010, during the tenure of the unpredictable veteran politician, Whyte Marobela, Molapise was persuaded to return to the BPP leadership as vice president and he easily obliged.
It was during a debate at the party conference that Marobela soured the debate with his suggestion that the BPP should have a working relationship with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), a motion that swayed opinion against him.
The general consensus within the party leadership was immediately that Marobela should be chucked out of the party, a call that was immediately executed. He was expelled from the BPP and that’s when Molapise returned as the helmsman at the BPP to date.
Besides being at the helm of the BPP, Molapise also dabbled as the UDC chairperson from 2011 to date. It is apparent that ever since Molapise got a second bite at the party leadership, he has been concentrating his remaining energy doing UDC party business at the detriment of the struggling BPP.
From its glory days in 1994, the BPP is today simply a shadow of itself after all its fortunes dwindled to all time low.
“Now, my plan is to leave active politics and go and rest. I am only waiting for the party conference,” Molapise was quick to explain this week.
He considers it a mistake for him to have been in the BPP leadership for that long. Worriedly, he has nothing to show in his remaining years, except that he kept the party name alive. After the 2019 general election, the BPP emerged only with a single councillor. The number of councillors was increased to three some months back after two BDP councillors in Francistown-West defected to the BPP with the area MP, Ignatius Moswaane.
It was around 2000 that the BPP general membership also quit the BPP following on the footsteps of the leadership that had defected to BAM and later the BCP.
It was a tall order for the BPP to quickly recover after the exodus of its trusted members. The situation was not helped by the problem of limited resources, which hampered the party from experiencing further growth.
Although the BPP has had its fair share of challenges, it never abandoned the UDC project, as that is where hope for opposition victory lies.
The BPP supports the UDC project wholeheartedly with the hope that it will liberate Batswana although by Molapise’s admission, the party (BPP) has not benefited anything from the coalition. It is apparent that Molapise and the BPP have been concentrating their energies more on the UDC and giving less attention to the BPP project.
“We are pursuing the course of change of government (through the UDC) for the benefit of Batswana and not for individuals. The BPP will continue to focus on freeing Batswana,” he explained.
He stated that as a party, the BPP will be very happy if the UDC wins the general election or at least more constituencies as that will have a bearing even on the BPP.
Molapise has no idea who will finally take over the BPP leadership. But, he is hopeful that the party will have a leader who will work very hard towards rescuing the BPP from going under as factors have been conniving against its recovery with more of the party’s operatives continuing to cross the floor to other parties.