BMD rises but not like a phoenix
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday November 1, 2022 06:00
A phoenix bird is a mythical bird from Greek mythology. It was a feathered creature of great size with talons and wings and its plumage radiant and beautiful. The phoenix lived for 500 years before it built its funeral pyre where it burst into flame and died.
Consumed in its fiery inferno it burnt to ashes. Soon after, the mythical creature rose out of the ashes, in a transformation from death to life. This story of becoming born again is what the new president of the resurrected BMD Nehemiah Modubule hoped as he gathered members at Maeto Lodge in Mahalapye on Saturday morning.
Some people wearing BMD colours were waiting outside as the leaders were said to be on the way. It had been a long time since anyone saw the orange and black colours of the BMD.
The colours were like spring and brought hope for the BMD members, so they said. Out of the darkness of winter, it was as if the BMD was yearning for resurrection as Modubule arrived at the venue.
The former Lobatse legislator had promised that 350 delegates would be at the event, but the crowd that gathered couldn’t even reach 70. Still, he could be forgiven for hoping for the positive as it was a resurrection after all and perhaps most people won’t come on board until later in the journey.
Speaking of journeys, the Mahalapye one was a trip former BMD president Sidney Pilane couldn’t take.
BMD members had hoped that Pilane would come and officially open the event and perhaps bid them farewell. He instead asked Modubule to read a letter from 2020 when he announced that he will be stepping down and won’t defend his position at the next congress. With or without Pilane the show had to go on. Modubule then as the chairman assumed the responsibility to address BMD members.
The classical mythology of the phoenix states that the latter burned itself in a funeral pyre. As for the resurrected BMD under the stewardship of Modubule, many are to blame for their demise, at least that is according to the latter.
Speaking at the congress, Modubule blamed the media for taking sides during their bloody encounter with the faction which later formed the Alliance for Progressives at the Bobonong congress in 2017. “I blamed the media for what happened. They like taking sides and did that in Bobonong. They didn’t tell the whole truth and chose to paint us as the bad guys in 2017.
The media can make or break you and they did break us in Bobonong and I still don’t know why,” highlighted Modubule. But after the blame shifting, Modubule and company began their election behind closed doors and after five hours they emerged with a new National Executive Committee led by Modubule himself as the unopposed president. Keamogetswe Keamogetswe was voted in as the vice president. Most of the positions were unopposed. The positions included the chair, won by Julius Baitumetse, secretary-general which was taken by Bakang Kolobe, the deputy secretary-general which was filled by Onkagetse Petrus, and the treasurer which was taken by Masego Tsiane.
Titus Letshwiti is the deputy treasurer while Segale Pono Kgari is the national organising secretary. Gabanatshepho Fana Letsogo is the policy director while Isaac Malipiti, Kopanelo Theko, Michael Mmati and Nchadi Julia Alebo are additional members. After the congress, Modubule told The Monitor that those who feel the BMD is dead and cannot be resurrected should go ahead and underestimate the party at their own peril. “We are back and from here we are going to rebuild structures. We are holding another congress next year in July, our mandate as the newly elected NEC is to show our visibility and inform people that the BMD is alive,” he added.
The BMD rising from the ashes in Mahalapye may be a symbol of rebirth, but is far from eternal life as hurdles lie ahead before the 2024 General Election. Theirs is not exactly a classical symbolism of resurrection, of life reborn anew and transformed.
Theirs is no mythology but the BMD story is real. The party doesn’t have structures and can’t attract key members who will contest parliamentary and councillor seats come 2024. Unlike the phoenix, the BMD doesn’t have feathers that can emit light and for now, the party will just have to fly blind.