Lessons from BMD as UDC holds the axe
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday June 28, 2022 03:10
It appears UDC has taken some lessons from the infamous Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) expulsion in tumultuous 2018.
UDC that year announced that it had suspended one of its coalition partners, BMD and the latter was given time to reflect.
BMD was consequently expelled from the UDC, a decision that the former challenged, taking UDC to court. In 2019, the year of the general elections, BMD eventually lost with costs in a case it was challenging its expulsion from the opposition coalition.
BMD led by its then-president, Sidney Pilane had filed a review application before the High Court after the UDC expelled it from its fold in October 2018. Fast forward to now, the UDC has opted to suspend BCP leader and UDC vice president, Dumelang Saleshando and BCP secretary-general, Goretetse Kekgonegile rather than axe BCP from the coalition entirely.
This follows a public spat between Botswana National Front (BNF) and BCP over UDC governance issues and the Bophirima ward candidacy. The UDC is a coalition between the two parties and the Botswana People’s Party (BPP).
Back then, UDC decided to suspend the BMD at Oasis Motel in Tlokweng in 2018, something the coalition would not want to see a repeat of in the now. Instead, the UDC NEC took a rather unexpected move when it kept the BCP in the coalition and suspended Saleshando and Kekgonegile over weekend in Palapye.
Following the decision, Saleshando says he is shocked by his suspension because he is not a member of the UDC.
“I don’t see how this suspension can be worrying because I am not a member of the UDC. I don’t have a UDC membership card and if they had given it to me, then they should tell me to give it back,” Saleshando told a crowd of BCP members during their party’s 24th anniversary at the BCP office in Extension 4, Gaborone over the weekend.
However, explaining why they suspended Saleshando and Kekgonegile and not the BCP in its entirety, UDC leader, Duma Boko said when one joins the UDC as a group member along with members the latter become members of the UDC as individuals.
He explained that if ever a party is expelled from the coalition it doesn’t mean individual members are also expelled. He said if an individual member is to be expelled then they have to face their wrongdoing.
“These are issues that have been before the courts and if some of you remember well there was a party called Puso, which was a group member of the BNF. These issues surfaced at the time and they were solved,” he recalled.
Boko pointed out that when one is a member of the UDC they are members collectively with their party and also as individuals.
“You have a certain responsibility concerning the interests and wishes of the UDC. And if you hold a leadership position within the UDC you cannot say someone instructed you to burn the same house you are in and not be disciplined. You can’t go out there and dismiss the UDC and tell people how the party doesn’t have value and doesn’t deserve Batswana’s vote,” he said.
Boko explained that when they took a decision to expel BMD in 2018 they didn’t just rush the decision to expel it. He said that is not how they do things at the UDC.
“We looked at how the then leader of the BMD tarnished the image of the coalition, something he objected to. We had a chance to talk to the BMD leadership and agreed on what to do. We gave them a chance to fix their mistakes and asked them to retract their statements. We also asked the leader to step down from the leadership position of the party. We gave them a definite period to act on those decisions and failing to do so we suspended and eventually expelled them from the UDC,” he stated.
Boko outlined they had realised even during the suspension period that the BMD had no intention to have a working relationship with other coalition partners in the UDC. He said the decision befitted the situation at the time.
Speaking of situations, Boko said currently the NEC took a decision not to expel BCP because some of the latter’s members may not know anything about some of these statements made by Saleshando and Kekgonegile.
“We are taking a decision against wrongdoers,” he said. Boko emphasised that the BCP is still a member of the UDC despite the decision taken over the weekend.