How Batswana funded democracy
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday April 22, 2024 06:00
As they say, true to the wishes of its fallen hero, 96-year-old founding party president, Michael Kitso Dingake, who is reputed to have been a perfectionist in the art of organising events and enlivening the image of the party, the BCP did not disappoint the former Robben Island prisoner and Rivonia trialist.
The BCP made a solid statement this past weekend, an assertion that will definitely go into annals of history, although questions are abound whether the party will consistently maintain the bar that high ahead of its competition. The launch of its fourth president, Dumelang Saleshando, was an event of epoch-making significance in the party’s 26-year history.
The BCP is also oozing confidence that its diehards are prepared to fund democracy in the party’s wider dream of changing the government. Its dream of winning its targeted 31 constituencies is generally buoyed by the growing appetite from the rank and file to ‘fund democracy’ from their pockets to change government.
The statement the party made last weekend must have left its nemesis green with envy more so that it is the only organisation so far that has moved forward and launched its presidential candidate ahead of others including the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which in previous elections led while the rest followed.
The only time that Saleshando had tasted a launch closer to the weekend one was during the campaigns for the 2019 General Election when a controversial South African businessman, Zunaid Moti allegedly, bankrolled the UDC launch held in Maun. Although reports suggested that the weekend launch was almost postponed due to lack of funds, Saleshando’s launch as the BCP’s presidential candidate for the 2024 General Election, which was preceded by the memorial service of the political icon, the BCP’s stalwart and its first president Dingake, had all the hallmarks of opulence and plenty.
Theirs was a show of affluence and flexing the BCP's financial muscle. The whole organisation was top notch with top of the range marquee tents that accommodated hundreds of party diehards according to their ranks. Perhaps, what caught the eye was the sitting arrangements for the party’s head honchos, the candidates, the rank and file and all, which was a marvel to watch.
The whole set up was quite clean. The BCP spokesperson, Mpho Pheko is upbeat that her party continues to live up to its reputation against all odds. She was elated that the weekend rally is what the doctor had prescribed for the BCP as a party that is preparing to take over government. Pheko was, however, not ready to share how much her party had gobbled up at Saleshando's weekend launch. “You will notice that the party was intentional in staging a launch of that magnitude. And it’s the masses who actually fund raised to ensure the party made it,” she told Mmegi in a post launch interview.
The BCP leadership is currently reconciling to find out how much was used in their launch but by the look of things, the event was in a million pula bracket. Her view is that her party diehards could not just watch their party sinking without money as they quickly put hands together for the good of the BCP. “One donated 1,000 party t-shirts, others goats, herds of cattle, money and many other necessities that enabled the party to hold things together.
We are the BCP and that’s how we work,” the elated Pheko told Mmegi. She is insistent that Batswana from all walks of life are keen to continue funding democracy that will culminate in the change of government. She cited crowd-funding initiative as one quick and reliable method of fund raising for the 2024 General Election. At the launch, Pheko was able to provide people with a quick number that they dialled to donate to the party and she considers the initiative a clean way of fund raising. She kept on emphasising that by far, Batswana have come with all sorts of pledges to continue enriching democracy.
“Look, a lot of service providers just provided their services for free and this is not just low quality services. They are also showing the desire to change government,” she said. The BCP is doing everything possible according to Pheko to avoid any form of State capture of government in advance. “We think it will be unfair to sell our country to foreign benefactors who continue bankrolling others with ridiculous terms of their funding,” she told Mmegi without elaborating.