The ‘cursed’ BDP offspring
Ryder Gabathuse | Wednesday April 26, 2023 15:23
At the rate at which party operatives are tearing each other apart, it will seemingly take a miracle to save the BPF from its accelerated self- destruction. It’s also possible for a ‘baby party’ to cry when the political brouhaha settles.
Not even the impending court injunction brought about by the faction led by the BPF president Biggie Butale in an endeavour to defend his position would actually steady the BPF ship as it is already headed for disaster.
There seems to be no love lost between the party cliques as inside reports suggest that nothing is set to stop the Tshekedi Khama faction from proceeding with its plan of electing a new leadership for the party.
The idea here is to elevate former president Ian Khama to the presidency of the BPF, by hook or crook. It will be interesting to see what will come out of a court matter in which Team Butale wants to interdict the Tshekedi Khama faction from holding a parallel elective congress in Selebi-Phikwe whilst Butale and his loyalists meet in Gaborone on April 29 for an extra-ordinary congress. Quizzed this week if Butale and his team were continuing with the court matter, the BPF president could only say, “aluta continua”.
The political hullaballoo rattling the BPF is at best intentional. It’s a product of a long simmering trouble in the party. It seems the Tshekedi Khama-led faction is desperate to tilt the scales and usurp the party from the leadership of properly elected Butale. The party has failed to handle the matter in-house until it spilled out into the open. Gloves are off in the ongoing fights. Coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is waiting for the political developments at the BPF with keen interest as the Advocate Duma Boko-led UDC has a grand plan of ‘uniting’ opposition parties ahead of the 2024 General Election.
The BPF has recently committed to working with the UDC albeit under debatable circumstances as the party congress is yet to sanction the commitment. Ian Khama has lately been unambiguous that he wants to be the BPF helmsman ahead of the 2024 General Election. He has highlighted his plan also to see a united opposition cooperating with a goal of ousting his former party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power.
There are worries in the BPF that the emergence of two powerful opposing camps in the party might leave the party battered, as it doesn’t seem any faction is prepared to relent.
The BPF is still deemed an influential force especially in the Central District where Ian Khama still commands influence over a tribe that reveres him as their paramount chief. The BPF is the second political party to be birthed by the ruling BDP in recent times under two different presidents. There must be a curse placed on the BDP offspring, which impinges their progress as members find themselves trooping back to the ruling party, forming splinter parties and at worst, literally fighting each other.
Yes, there seem to be a hoodoo placed on BDP offspring never to grow and compete with the parent party. But, then, even the grand children of the ruling party diametrically stagnate. Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), the first BDP offspring, broke away from the parent party in 2010 and would later give birth to the Ndaba Gaolathe-led Alliance for Progressives (AP) in 2017. The then Sidney Pilane-led BMD never rose above the waters as at the 2019 General Election, the party was almost vanquished with some of its members back to the BDP. The BMD came about following the tumultuous BDP Kanye congress in 2009.
It also followed the suspension of Gomolemo Motswaledi (who was then BDP’s newly-elected secretary-general) for putting the party and its president into disrepute after contradicting a statement issued by the BDP lawyer, Parks Tafa. It was then that a concerned group of primarily Barata-Phathi faction rose in his defence. The breakup was so tumultuous that at some stage, the two factions of the BMD came face-to-face in Bobonong, pelting each other with stones and all sorts of arsenals. Canines were also unleashed to quell riots at Matshekge Hill Secondary School in Bobonong where livid party faithful jarred instead of holding the intended elective congress. It was the worst way of comrades parting. Of the three men considered the principal architects of the BMD project, Pilane was president of his BMD faction, Botsalo Ntuane returned to the BDP whilst Motswaledi is deceased. According to party literature, Ndaba arrived on the scene just before the inaugural St.
Joseph’s congress in 2011 where he became the party policy director.
Even recent attempts by Nehemiah Modubule to resuscitate the fortunes of a visibly sunken BMD in Mahalapye at an elective congress, saw him standing before a shadow of the BMD. The BMD was simply finished at Bobonong, the day the two factions of the party pelted each other with missiles. History shows that it was in 2010 that former president Ian Khama’s administration was shocked when ruling party operatives broke away after they could not stomach what they termed Ian Khama’s ‘dictatorial tendencies’ and formed the BMD. This was after Khama could not tolerate the reality that a faction then popularly known as Barata Phathi, had vanquished the dominant A-Team that he (Khama) at the time sympathised with at an elective congress in Kanye. The BPF was born only a year after President Mokgweetsi Masisi had taken oath of office during the 2019 General Election with pure intentions of ousting the President Mokgweetsi Masisi-led administration but unfortunately, the BDP stood firm on its course. The ruling party won the 2019 polls. Unlucky for Khama and the BPF, some of those who pioneered at the party or those who would join the BPF at a later stage, were formerly members of both the BDP and the BMD and have tasted political ‘instability’ at that level. Some of them are political nomads who are not even ashamed of joining any listed political party in the country and still treat it as normal. An author going by the moniker, Ringtone Nteletsa once wrote in 2010 sending a warning that the BMD was conceived simply: “After the Mogoditshane meeting that mooted the formation of the BMD, the public was treated to media hype akin to what we witnessed during the formation of COPE (Congress of the People in South Africa). “In their utmost campaign of deceit, at some point, BMD members through some of our biased press paraded some fishy BDP membership cards which they claimed was evidence to the effect that 1,600 BDP members in Gaborone South had resigned to join BMD.” He had added prophetically: “The nation is being treated to a feat with the likes of Botsalo Ntuane, Gomolemo Motswaledi (now deceased) and others leading the charge in the same vein as COPE's 'charismatic' Mosioua Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa to mention a few. Has anybody ever wondered what is happening to the two acquaintances Lekota and Shilowa? Mark my word, soon BMD will be treating us to a circus like what we are witnessing between Mosioua Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa.”
It is University of Botswana (UB) lecturer in politics and administrative studies Adam Mfundisi’s considered view that the BPF’s formation was not motivated by any ideological nor vision for the country. Instead he says, “It was a product of BDP factionalism that pitted Khama against Masisi. The political divorce was highly toxic and contagious leading to the BDP losing its traditional stronghold, Bangwato area and its environs.” His view is that parties that are anchored on weak foundations are afflicted by these political pathologies. Another weakness he observed is that the BPF’s leadership was premised on Khama as the Godfather, the indomitable chief of the Bangwato tribe. “Khama’s political, social, and economic prowess catapulted the BPF to stardom. His political charisma and charm appealed to hearts and minds of the masses particularly in the Central District and beyond. As the outgoing supremo in 2018/19, he had cultivated a strong political base. Without Khama’s wisdom and political clout, factionalism is breaking the party. It serves the BDP government well because the BPF is a threat to the BDP support base. There are still Khama’s diehards within the party and government,” he told Mmegi in an interview. To him, exodus of BPF members to the BDP should not come as a shocker because in the absence of Khama, malignant and self-serving, political opportunists are vulnerable and are seeking refuge in the ruling party. He describes Khama as the glue that bonded members of the BPF together. “The BDP has launched a multipronged strategy to isolate Khama from his supporters. The use, abuse and misuse of the criminal justice system is a political strategy to keep Khama at bay and completely out of sight,” noted the UB lecturer. Mfundisi believes that Khama still has political, economic and social assets to influence voters against the current regime. He believes the former president still has reasonable influence in both party and government. He finds the BDP most vulnerable due to poor leadership, weak economy, political decay, high unemployment, rampant corruption and maladministration, abject poverty and inequality. Mfundisi feels that those who leave the BPF are not motivated by public interests but mainly by parochial self-interests. His further observes that the BDP culture is still embedded on them.
Therefore, their behaviour is influenced by self-entitlement and self-aggrandisement. The BDP and government have not changed for the better but to the worst and the ruling party in his view, is beyond reformation. “Most of these opportunists have realised that with a huge developmental budget for 2023-24 fiscal year, they have opportunities to enrich themselves through corruptive practices. Government tenders and procurement processes are avenues for ill-forgotten wealth by BDP operatives. Most of these politicians are tenderpreneurs who view government as a conduit for amassing wealth and property,” he said. He accused the BDP of today to be fundamentally driven by self-interests, empathy impaired, corrupt, and less constrained by ethical standards. Mfundisi has a strong view that if Ian Khama had no political prowess the BDP government could have not pressurised him to flee to South Africa by unleashing the criminal justice system to pursue him. In defence of the BPF, Mfundisi is adamant the party is not entirely a spent force or liability to the UDC. He says it brings in a solid political base in the Central District and its environs.
“All Serowe constituencies are safe, Boteti constituencies are a possibility, Palapye and Mahalapye too. If Khama jets in before 2024 General Election, a different political game will ensue. He is a political asset to opposition victory,” the UB academic posits. All in all, he says the BDP is most vulnerable and it will use all resources at its disposal to win elections through hook or crook. Electoral fraud and rigging have already started and an alert opposition and civil society are required and desirable. Another UB political analyst, Dr. Batlang Seabo says the BPF is still a political infant outfit in the politics of Botswana that is yet to make a mark as a potent political player within an increasingly competitive party system. “On this basis,” he adds: “The party simply cannot afford two centres of power as it still seeks to grow beyond being a regional party confined to the Central District.” He posits that the current factions have severe ramifications for the party’s growth and electoral fortunes more especially if it is outside the UDC and as such it may just remain a regional party winning the Serowe constituencies thanks to conservative and royalty privileges of the Khamas. His analysis is that former president Ian Khama cannot realistically lead the BPF more especially from South Africa by remote control. He describes the elections as high stakes political contestation that extremely require resources including time and finances to campaign. “Secondly, any suggestions or possibilities for Khama to lead the BPF will further divide the party as it is currently happening, resulting in the loss of members mostly to the ruling BDP. Thirdly, there are some within the opposition who would be sceptical to work with the Khama-led BPF but more denting, a BPF under Khama is a political suicide as some voters may not want a return of Khama to political office in any form,” said Dr. Seabo who teaches political science at UB.