Personalisation of power leads to BNF resignations
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday October 30, 2023 06:00
This has however, not stopped conspiracy theorists to posit that Nkoane’s resignation has something to do with Boko’s leadership style. Nkoane said she stepped down from her position in the BNF in order to “focus my resources and energy on my children and my professional career”.However, authoritative sources within the BNF say that while Nkoane resigned from the BNF on her own volition, there is more than meets the eye behind her resignation.
Sources say that Nkoane was tired of the way Boko is (was) running the BNF alone and Boko’s averseness to listening to advice from other members of the central committee (CC) of the party.
After Nkoane served the BNF with her resignation letter, Resego Kgosidintsi, former BNF Youth League president, took to social media describing Nkoane as a brave woman before writing: “We need to start addressing issues ka mowa o oleng go satwe ope o rekilwe. Eseng jalo Puo Phaa e re e ratang go taa sala lepeka. We owe it to ourselves to pick that party up and detox it of any dictatorial traits. It is our responsibility ha go santse go ntse jalo le taa nama le ntse le re bitsa di armchair revolutionaries.”
Kgosidintsi has also resigned from her position but she still remains a member of the BNF. For a long time, Boko has faced criticisms within and without the BNF and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) that he lacks the traits of democracy and that he is a dictator.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP), a former affiliate of the UDC, has accused Boko of lacking the principles of good governance and leading the opposition coalition as a one-man show hence its decision to sever its ties with the UDC. As always, the BNF and UDC have rubbished the above assertions.
The BNF and UDC say that Boko is a true democrat who cannot be said to run the BNF and UDC unilaterally because he leads them with the assistance of other senior leaders within the recognised structures of the two organisations.
With Nkoane one of the most senior figures to resign from the BNF following in the footsteps of the party’s former vice president, Dr Prince Dibeela, who ended up forming a splinter party, Botswana Labour Party (BLP), after accusing Boko of democratic deficiencies, there are fears that the party may find itself in a state of paralysis if it does not put its house in order.
In fact, there is a narrative that the BCP will in due course be vindicated by the current resignations that are rocking the BNF.
For starters, analysts have long said that the negative goings-on in the BNF will have ripple effects on the UDC and affect its (UDC’s) electoral prospects if it is not timely resolved in the best interests of the BNF and UDC and not one person.
Political observers have long posited that a rag-tag group of opposition parties will not achieve one of their dreams of removing the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power unless they are organised and united.
The dream of removing the BDP from power, the analysts add, will be just a pie in the sky taking into consideration that one of the parties with the most following in the UDC, the BCP, has recently officially announced that it will contest the 2024 General Election outside the UDC.
Past general election results have shown that the opposition’s quests of removing the BDP from power were dented by vote splitting.
Wading on the Boko issue, a University of Botswana (UB) political analyst Professor Zibani Maundeni says the BNF (and by extension UDC) is run through a system called personalisation of power.
“This implies that the party president cannot be successfully challenged by other party structures. UDC negotiators cannot successfully challenge the party president. The party central committee can never successfully challenge the party president. In the absence of assured recourse, dissatisfied leaders can only submit to the whims of the party president or resign and jump ship. They cannot correct the party president,” said Maundeni.
He added: “This explains why the BNF and UDC have always experienced resignations and splits. Individual leaders can resign if they so wish. Party structures can split and form independent parties. This is what happened to BMD and BCP. The same will happen to others in the future. Dr Kenneth Koma was the BNF and Boko is the UDC. There is no recourse for correcting the party president.”
Approached for comment about the Boko issue, especially that the BNF is a one-man show run by Boko who also exhibits dictatorial traits, the BNF’s chairperson, Dr Patrick Molutsi, said that the CC of the party is made up of people with extensive experience locally and internationally spanning various fields in leadership roles.
“We are not children. We cannot allow ourselves to be controlled by one person. Allegations that the BNF is run by Boko as a one-man show and that Boko is a dictator are meant to mislead to the nation,” said Molutsi.
Molutsi said that Nkoane resigned from the BNF not on account of the false narrative that Boko is a dictator but on her own volition to concentrate on family and work commitments.
“Our detractors will always peddle false allegations against Boko to deflect attention about the real issues affecting Batswana because they fear Boko very much.
A lot of Batswana however, see this as propaganda and dismiss it with the contempt it deserves. Batswana want to hear about bread and butter issues like poverty and high unemployment among others that are affecting them and how they can be solved and are not interested in personality cults,” said Molutsi.