Nothing wrong with opposition parties working with BDP – Analysts
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday June 26, 2023 12:45
FRANCISTOWN: The quid pro quo arrangement between the BCP and the BDP led to the tabling of a motion of no confidence against the chairperson of the North West District Council (NWDC) and his deputy.
The chairperson and deputy of NWDC were BCP councillors who were deployed by the BCP to represent the UDC in the 2019 General Election.
They attracted the ire of the BCP after they resigned from the party.
There are many factors that led to the BCP to cooperate with the BDP in order to achieve a particular aim even though their aims and beliefs are normally very different from the BDP in the NWDC. The decision of the BCP was partly triggered by the move of the UDC to ‘poach’ the councillors.
The UDC promised the BCP councillors that they will not be subjected to primaries should they resign from the latter. The decision of the BCP to work with the BDP in the NWDC has riled the UDC. There is a narrative, whether false or not, that is being peddled by the UDC that the BCP is anti-regime change. Proponents of this narrative reason that the BCP betrayed the regime change agenda when it contested the 2014 General Election outside the UDC.
The notion that the BCP is anti-regime change was also recently amplified by the president of the UDC, Duma Boko, during a star rally on the campaign trail of the Mapoka-Nlaphkwane by-election. Boko said some BCP leaders were averse to regime change. Although Boko did not mention names, it was clear that he was referring to his erstwhile lieutenant, Dumelang Saleshando. Boko and Saleshando do not enjoy a rosy relationship they had prior to the 2019 polls.
Following the ouster of the NWDC chairperson and his deputy, the BDP regional chairman Reaboka Mbulawa, who lost to Saleshando in the 2019 General Election, took to social media to celebrate.
Mbulawa said the BDP made use of the current dispute between the UDC and the BCP to its advantage.
Mbulawa’s words were, however, disputed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ngami Carter Hikuama who attended the council session when the NWDC chairperson and his deputy were given their marching orders.
Hikuama, who was deployed by the BCP to represent the UDC in the 2019 polls, said the motion to remove the chairperson and his deputy was motivated by public interest and not political expediency.
Adam Mfundisi, the UB political analyst, says it is wrong to portray the BCP as a traitor of the regime change agenda and for working with the BDP in the NWDC.
“The BCP actions are influenced by the UDC decisions to oust the BCP aligned councillors from leadership positions in Bobonong. This precipitated the BCP to respond in kind in the NWDC. What the BCP did in the NWDC is tantamount to a tit for tat strategy. In all these political manoeuvering, the BDP is the midwife. Both the BCP and the UDC courted the support of the BDP councillors to oust their somewhat opponents. The tussle between the BCP and the UDC was triggered in the main by the suspension of Saleshando and secretary-general (SG) of the BCP Goretetse Kekgonegile from the UDC and subsequent ousting of Saleshando from the position of Leader of Opposition (LOO),” Mfundisi emphasised.
Prior to that, Mfundisi added that some BCP affiliated MPs had dumped the BCP for the UDC.
“This was replicated at council level in that some councillors across the country dumped the BCP for the UDC. The UDC had promised that incumbent councillors and the MPs will not be subjected to primary elections. Therefore, if they were to be legible they must dump the BCP. This divided councillors of the various councils all over the country. It became apparent that this division could lead to instability in some councils as evidenced by cases in Bobonong and the NWDC.
“All in all, both the BCP and the UDC are at fault. Political expediency, rather than principles, motivated both to court the BDP to unleash revenge on the other. In politics, there are no permanent friends but interests. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There is erosion of political trust and confidence between the BCP and the UDC,” said Mfundisi.
Mfundisi stressed that if an opportunity presents itself given the current unhealthy relationship between the BCP and the UDC, the latter would also do the same.
“For now until the 2024 General Election, we will see politics of betrayal, deception, treachery and opportunism. The battle lines have been brutally defined and demarcated. Politics in Botswana, like in other countries is not influenced by principles rather by political expediency. This is not the problem of the BCP alone as the UDC, in cases I have posited, betrayed the BCP by ganging up with the BDP to oust the BCP leadership. By encouraging politics of defection by the BCP councillors and MPs, the UDC was declaring political warfare which the BCP is responding in kind.
“Patronage-based system promoted by the UDC will backfire in the long run. Political contests are important in a democracy. Politicians at all levels must be subjected to the ballot and the best candidate must be voted for by the people. Sometimes, voter apathy is promoted by lack of transparency and accountability by political parties in Botswana. Political game playing undermines democratic principles thus leading to erosion of public trust and weakening of democratic institutions including political parties. Political competition is an effective antidote to political patronage which diminishes merit-based politics,” Mfundisi said.
Mfundisi is also of the view that the hegemony of the Botswana National Front (BNF) within the UDC contributes to instability within the coalition. The BNF has denied this assertion on several occasions.
“Why blame the BCP for instability within the UDC? Even before the BCP joined the UDC there was simmering discontent within the coalition revolving around constitutional and leadership issues. Let’s move away from the politics of blame and critically examine the factors that lead to the breakdown of coalitions of political parties. All over the globe, coalitions fail for various reasons including self-interests, ideology, leadership and egos amongst other reasons. Regime change should not be interpreted as an end in itself but a means to various ends. ‘UDC or Never’ slogan should be equated to the BDP facade of ‘ There is no alternative’. We should move away from coalition for convenience but coalition for development,” said Mfundidsi. He added that three way contestations are not a vice but a virtue as voters will have ample choice to elect representatives.
“...We must dismiss the false narrative that the BDP can only be defeated by a single coalition political party. Botswana is no exception as ruling parties have been defeated amidst a congested playing field. It happened in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia, to name but a few...,” Mfundisi explained.
Another UB analyst, Professor Zibani Maundeni is also of the view that there is nothing wrong with the BCP cooperating with the BDP.
Maundeni underscored that in the era of coalition politics, if one coalition fails to work, a party is free to look for partners whether in the opposition or the ruling party.
The UB don also stressed that there is nothing amiss in the nature of the partnership between the BCP and the BDP at the NWDC.
Maundeni said what is currently happening in the midst of the toxic relationship between the BCP and the UDC is akin to the continuation of the process of floor crossing.
“It will be unfair to fault the BCP for its arrangement with the BDP at the NWDC. All the opposition parties have been doing that. For example, in the build up to the 2019 General Election, the president of the UDC, Duma Boko worked with the patron of Botswana Patriotic Party (BPF), former president Ian Khama. Boko did so despite heavy protestations from the trade unions. If the current relationship between the BCP and the UDC is not working as planned, then the BCP is free to walk out of that relationship. It cannot remain in a coalition that is detrimental to the furtherance of its various objectives,” said Maundeni.