Kavindama: a voice of the downtrodden

STRYKER MOTLALOSO
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 25, 2008 00:00

 

In fact, those with fond memories of the man tell stories of how he approached the District Commissioner's office in Maun after winning the 1984 election to get a travel warrant to Gaborone. ' Ke nna Joseph Kavindama, ke mophalamente wa Okavango, ke ya ko Phalamente ya Botswana'.

As one of the pioneers of opposition politics, first under the banner of the Botswana National Front (BNF) and later the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the late Kavindama will be recorded in the annals of history as a celebrated revolutionary icon and a spokesman for the down-trodden and the under-privileged. Kavindama died last Saturday.

His peers across the political divide such as the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)'s longest-serving MP and cabinet Minister Daniel Kwelagobe and those in the opposition parties hold him in high regard. Kwelagobe who for along time was the BDP Secretary General might have been talking from experience. He has seen Kavindama wrestle the Okavango Constituency from his colleague Bailang Salepito I984. Other than that, DK knows Kavindama's exploits from how he traversed the length and breath of the harvest Okavango constituency some times on foot to campaign for elections.

To that, Kwelagobe attests that even for the BDP, it was no mean feat for them to take the Okavango Constituency from Kavindama under Visitor Moruti, the current MP for the area who got into office through the 2004 ballot. The strategy, according to Kwelagobe, was that they started off by winning one ward from Kavidama until they eventually defeated him, he says. In Parliament, he talked about an array of issues ranging from schools, roads and the construction of a bridge across the Mohembo River, says Kwelagobe about the late Kavindama. 'O ne a buillela kgaolo ya gagwe. Re tsere kgaolo mo go ene gose motlhofo', he adds.

His long time boss friend, Gil Saleshando, BCP President a former colleague in Parliament describes Kavidama as a brave man who would be relied upon. He got tough when the going got tough, says Saleshando. 'Ha go le thata o ne a nna thata go heta', and the freedom, he displayed both front and backward linkages to connect with people.

Kavindama was a very able man who could do extra-ordinary things. Who could imagine the things he did to change the Okavango? It was unimaginable, for him to campaign on foot and yet be able to beat well -resourced parties such as the BDP.

His other positive attribute is that Kavindama was a very kind person and was able to link well with the people. Even in his death, it would be difficult to replace him, says Saleshando.

Furthermore, Saleshando says Kavindama's showing in the BCP primary elections where he won over 2500 votes to become the candidate for the Okavango is an indication of his ability and skill. He concentrated his time in his constituency but he also a nationalist who took keen interest in Botswana's politics.

Due to his love for politics, Kavindama visited Saleshando in Phikwe in 1980 but declined efforts by the BCP President to find him a job saying that would conflict with his ambition to represent his people in the 1984 general election, which he stood for and won. For his part, Kgatleng East MP, Isaac Mabiletsa who worked with Kavindama as BNF colleague in Parliament and later as comrades, who broke away from the BNF to form the BCP, says Kavindama pioneered opposition politics in the Okavango jointly with the late Daniel Shamukuni. He won the Okavango constituency through the BNF ticket and he immediately became the centre of opposition politics in the North West. The BNF started penetrating the area and the country because of Okavango, said Mabiletsa.

' It was Kavindama, the late Dr Kenneth Koma and Maitswarelo Dabutha who entered Parliament in 1984 and took opposition politics to the highest point', says Mabiletsa. They contributed a lot through the famous Dikgang tsa Palamente Programme then hosted by Nelson Leepile, among others.