BCP yet to officially ditch UDC
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday February 27, 2023 06:00
The latter last year in Mahalapye gave the BCP central committee (CC) six months to iron out governance and constitution issues with the UDC but the CC has since met twice this year following the end of the deadline in January.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, BCP secretary-general Goretetse Kekgonegile said the CC has made a recommendation that the party’s days in the UDC are over because the people’s project is no longer a refuge anymore. “Our recommendation to the conference is that come 2024 we will not contest elections under the UDC. We must contest for the election under a new coalition,” he said.
Kekgonegile added the BCP CC wrote to the UDC shortly after last year’s annual conference informing them about the six-month ultimatum only for the UDC to give a cold shoulder. “That was a ‘go to hell’ kind of response and they showed us that they do not want to us to be part of the coalition. As a party, UDC has long discarded us,” he said.
He said the BCP has no relationship with the UDC other than the fact that they are council and parliamentary representatives under the coalition. “If UDC doesn’t consider us as their member, why should we consider ourselves as their member? They never engage us on anything,” he said. Kekgonegile not so long ago told Maun residents that next year’s general election will be a three horse race with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), UDC and their coalition with Alliance for Progressives (AP) and Botswana Labour Party (BLP).
Now backtracking on his words, Kekgonegile says that nothing is decided yet until the annual conference decides whether the BCP stays in the UDC or continues with their new coalition with AP and BLP. “If the annual conference takes a decision that in 2024 we will not contest under the UDC ticket, then by the time Parliament and council are dissolved we will no longer have any representative under the UDC. The conference will make a final determination in July and we will take it from there,” he said.
Despite their current status as members of the UDC, Kekgonegile said the BCP decided to start talks with the two parties in order to prepare their alternate home should the conference endorse the recommendation to quit the UDC.
He emphasised the BCP believes in opposition unity. “We believe in pacts and this is a stepping stone towards a total merger but we cannot be coalitions and pacts forever. It is our hope that with the new coalition with AP and BLP we will go towards a total merger. At the UDC it was clear that the Ledumang resolution didn’t allow Botswana Congress Party (BCP) to become part of a total merger. At the UDC every member defends their territory therefore it is not healthy in the long run,” he added.