BCP Warns Members Against Dirty Politics
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday October 26, 2021 06:00
Speaking during the BCP elective conference over the weekend, Rapelana said elections within the party are not supposed to be treated as if a member is contesting with an opponent from another party. “We could have learnt a lot from what happened to us as the BCP after the 2015 elective conference in Kanye. Use of certain words toward members that you are contesting with is not polite at all. We are a family and therefore let us be mindful of what we say to each other. After our congress in 2015, we lost some members that we needed most to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) after the team that we were supporting lost.
As the party, we don’t want to experience the same trend this time around,” Rapelana said. She also requested the outgoing central committee members to continue to support the new committee for them to achieve their mandate. She said the outgoing members of the central committee could support the new ones by ensuring that they help them to build party structures, play a part in regions and constituencies. She continued: “This is our party and we must be proud of it, to witness it growing.
All those things could happen if we join hands with the new committee by guiding them where necessary. Let us also keep on playing a major role in the opposition bloc which is the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).” Still at the conference, UDC president Duma Boko encouraged members to make sure that they do not vote into leadership those who will disappoint them by defecting to the ruling BDP. “The party must come out as a compact group.
The road we have chosen is a difficult one and we are going to face enemies outside the party and within. Therefore, we need firm and resolute members who can defend the BCP and UDC in tough times,” he said. BCP president Dumelang Saleshando said this is the time for the party to make self-introspection on what party members and society want. “We have placed suggestion boxes in every polling station so that members could write to us what they are not happy about, what they think could be done and what could be done better.
Again, we should also not be afraid even to ask other opposition members what they are expecting from us. This will help us to even understand the youth and labour movement,” Saleshando said. He also thanked the outgoing central committee for the dedication they had given to the party over the years and for making BCP a desirable party to the people.