Moswaane denies BPP hostility
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday January 23, 2023 06:00
Moswaane joined the BPP, an affiliate of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), in 2021 from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) after he accused it of misrule and aiding and abetting corruption.
Towards the end of last year rumours were circulating to the effect that some hardliners and people within the leadership of the BPP were opposed to Moswaane becoming the next BPP president after its current president, Motlatsi Molapisi, announced that he has run his race.
Sources within the BPP say people opposed to Moswaane’s presidential dreams were of the view that he was a novice and rabble-rouser who is yet to fully acquaint himself with the organisational culture of the BPP-a pan Africanist movement.
The sources add that Molapisi met with Moswaane towards the end of last year where the former candidly told the latter of pockets of resistance from some BPP veterans and hardliners in relation to his presidential ambitions.
At the meeting, Moswaane, BPP secretary for political affairs, reportedly agreed not to contest for the position of the president of the BPP after his dialogue with Molapisi but agreed to stand for other positions party holds its elective congress.
According to the BPP sources, opposition to Moswaane’s BPP presidential ambitions is ironic because the same people who are opposed to him don’t have a problem with other BPP cadres such as (Professor Phillip Bulawa), who joined the BPP around the same time with Moswaane contesting for the presidency. It is said that the veterans and hardliners of the BPP don’t have a problem with people like Bulawa to contest for the presidency of the BPP because they are from opposition parties unlike Moswaane who is from the BDP.
In the past, Bulawa, national chairperson of the BPP, told Mmegi that he would be happy to contest for any position that BPP members think that he would effectively serve the party in when the right time comes. Bulawa, an academic at the University of Botswana (UB), made the announcement after Molapisi announced in 2021 that he will be retiring from the presidency of the BPP. The BPP was supposed to hold an elective congress in 2022 but it was postponed to 2023.
It is still unclear whether the elective congress will be held this year. There are allegations that some BPP veterans and hardliners want Molapisi-who is also the chairperson of the UDC-to hold the fort until the 2024 General Election. The move by the BPP has riled some BPP Youth League members who are pro-Moswaane.
The pro-Moswaane activists want Molapisi to vacate the presidency in order to give the BPP a fresh impetus. A member of the BPP Youth League told Mmegi this week that it was high time Molapisi vacated the presidency of the BPP after serving the party for many years. In the past, Molapisi had announced that he was quitting the presidency of the BPP but various circumstances, some beyond his control, forced him to stay on as the president of the BPP.
Moswaane has of recent been holding consultative workshops and conferences in his constituency and villages in the North East District-a stronghold of the BPP. The workshops and conferences have reportedly rubbed some BPP head honchos and hardliners the wrong way because they think that Moswaane-a grassroots politician-is using them as a smoke screen to canvass for votes ahead of the party’s elective congress. According to the BPP insiders, Moswaane will easily defeat his challengers for the party presidency because of his hard work and grassroots credentials. When contacted for comment regarding the Moswaane issue, the BPP secretary-general Nono Kgafela-Mokoka curtly told Mmegi that she was not taking any interviews from the media because she was not feeling well. Efforts to contact Molapisi for comment were futile because he was not answering his phone on Wednesday and Thursday. When responding to the allegations relating to his BPP presidential ambitions, Moswaane said: “In politics, it is normal to contest for positions. It happens everywhere in mature democracies. I did not join the BPP for the position of the president.
I am volunteering as its servant. I will take any position which the electorates (BPP members) can vote for me. I am ready to serve in any position whenever the call arises.”
Moswaane also stated that he was enjoying a good working relationship with Molapisi and the entire BPP membership. “I am currently serving as the secretary for political affairs of the BPP and I enjoy a lot of support from everyone in the BPP. I am not going to blame those who feel that they don’t want me to occupy any leadership position. No, I can’t do that because they are entitled to their own opinions. They don’t hate me. I meet and talk to president Molapisi almost daily and I meet him at least once a week. When we meet, we talk about day to day operations of the party and nothing else,” said Moswaane. He added: “The BPP will hold its elective congress at the right time and we are all busy working very hard to make our party visible to the electorates.”