Dumping UDC VP position in the wind
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday May 1, 2023 06:00
There is a long history of vice presidents in the UDC since 2012 and recently there has been reports that the UDC leadership is toying with the idea of dropping the VP position as the coalition seeks to revise its constitution.
The UDC’s current situation is a predicament with the VP and BCP president Dumelang Saleshando who is on indefinite suspension. Saleshando fell out with the UDC president Duma Boko last year after complaining about poor governance in the UDC amongst others. He is the first UDC VP to make it clear that he wants to challenge for the presidency.
He outlined that the presidency position is not a natural Botswana National Front (BNF) position as has been the case from the onset. Speaking of beginnings, the the UDC didn't exactly have a VP in 2012 when it was founded. Back then it had the Secretary General position which was held by the late Gomolemo Motswaledi who was the leader of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), one of the UDC's founding members. After his demise on the eve of the 2014 General Election, his then deputy and now president of the AP, Ndaba Gaolathe, took over and contested the UDC’s first general election as Boko's running mate.
When the BCP joined the UDC in 2017, two VP slots were created and that was when Saleshando began his tenure as the second VP alongside Gaolathe. With the BMD split that same year, Gaolathe relinquished his position as VP to form the AP.
The VP position remained with the BMD then under Sidney Pilane up until the BMD was expelled from the UDC in 2018 thereby leaving Saleshando as the sole VP. The UDC contested the 2019 General Election with Saleshando as the VP and with the 2024 General Election drawing nearer, it is unlikely for the now suspended Saleshando to retain his seat as VP because the BCP is on its way out.
The UDC either has to pass the position to the newest member, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), or scrap it off completely as the recent reports suggest. Contacted for comment, the UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa clarified that the UDC has not killed the VP position. “As you know, we have a VP who is on suspension.
Although following his unavoidable suspension and that of another NEC member, they together with their party are pushing an anti-UDC agenda. We have not terminated their membership nor removed them from their positions. The UDC is about unifying and galvanising opposition support and this has been our consistent guide. Unfortunately, they have abused and taken advantage of this magnanimous posture,” Mohwasa told Mmegi this week. He also emphasised that the VP position was not Saleshando's position but BCP's.
With the AP dumping their once promising cooperation talks with the BCP and the Botswana Labour Party (BLP) to carve another path with the UDC, it was expected that the AP would perhaps fancy the VP position since it is a seat Gaolathe once held under the BMD. As matters stand, the secret talks with the AP allegedly led by Boko and Mohwasa have divided the BNF already. Among the enticing things which are said to have lured the AP is the promise of a secretary-general (SG) position since the VP one could soon be struck out.
Asked to comment on whether they have promised the AP an SG position, Mohwasa said: “Negotiations with AP have not started. The exchanges that have taken place were exploratory and informal. We will have to wait for the whole engagement to be formalised and it is only thereafter that we can comment. As we know, the UDC is a formal organisation that has processes and procedures with the NEC being the centre of authority. Before the UDC NEC takes a position, we have no comment”.
Besides issues of VP positions, the UDC for a long time has been on course to revise its constitution and enact some new clauses. Mohwasa confirmed that indeed the constitution is being reviewed. He said there is a constitutional stream that is populated with members from each one of the UDC affiliates. “The suspended VP, who is also the leader of the BCP, was given the assignment to oversee the process. It was to look into among others, the BCP ‘concerns’ around what they labelled ‘good governance’, ‘democracy’ and other good sounding clichés,” he pointed out.
Suspended VP Saleshando has been complaining that for more than a decade the UDC has been running on a transitional clause and it was time the party held an inaugural congress.
“The UDC is in a state of emergency, the UDC constitution is not used as it should be and after 10 years there has not been the first congress and there is no internal democracy. There is no operational programme of action,” Saleshando told the media last July after he was slapped with a three-month suspension. In response, Boko explained then that a congress cannot be held without amending certain aspects of the UDC constitution. Explaining their decision to delay the change of the constitution, something that will now benefit the BPF, Boko revealed that they took this decision after realising that they need more opposition parties to join the project.
“We agreed that the constitution needs to be reviewed, renewed and reinvigorated after being registered in August 2012,” he said. Boko, who is also the president of the BNF, said all three coalition partners agreed that the change of the constitution could only be effected after inviting other parties. He said they wanted new members to help as they all work together on the constitution and regime change. “We don’t want to make changes while others are still outside. We cannot vote and agree on the leadership change in the absence of others.
We didn’t want the BPF to come and become spectators,” he highlighted. Boko said had they changed the UDC leadership and renewed the constitution like the BCP had requested, the newly joined BPF would have nothing to contribute. With the possibility that the UDC might have another VP in the coming general election or none at all, there is no actual proof that the existence or choice of VP had made a difference in the election outcome. Observers, however, fear that dropping the VP position would only reflect badly on the UDC and its leadership because the position although a second fiddle is a heartbeat away from the presidency.