The hypocrisy of the BDP
Dumelang Saleshando | Saturday March 1, 2014 18:08
Kgathi stated as follows on the floor of Parliament, “Nyaa bagaetsho, golo moo ga goa siama in the sense that I do not know what is really breeding this arrogance. Is it because of the money that they are having from this Labour Party kwa England which to me is tantamount to a coup where a political party is being financed with an exclusive decision to uproot the Botswana Democratic Party as a democratically elected party, that is not correct?”
When congratulating Hubona for her election as Member of Parliament for Francistown West, Hon. Siele stated that, “Ga o lesego mmaetsho gobo o tsena mo Palamenteng e phati e o leng mo go yone, e na le maikaelelo a a bosula. E e yang go re memela batho go tswa kwa moseja go pitikolola goromente yo o tlhopilweng ke batho.”
For his part, Masimolole commented as follows; “Gompieno rene re utlwa mo dipampiring mo bekeng e e fetileng, gotwe ba babngwe ba re baya go kopa Labour Party gore e tle go ba thusa go ntsha Domkrag mo pusong. Ke ipotsa gore jaanong Labour Party mo dipolotiking tsa Botswana e tsena fa kae?”
Madam Speaker, the allegations that the BCP is receiving support from an external party for purposes of “mounting a coup” as proposed by Kgathi, or “go pitikolola goromente yo o tlhopilweng ke batho” in the words of Siele are not only grossly mischievous and calculated to score cheap political points in an election year, but are also down right irresponsible and should not have been made in this house. Allegations of a coup against a democratically elected government can never be taken lightly, particularly when they are made by people who occupy positions of national leadership.
Let me for the record state that the BCP has a relationship with the British Labour Party. This is not a secretive relationship promoting any clandestine agenda. Instead, it is a relationship that we have always made public and is based on shared political values and ideology. The BCP is not the only party that has maintained contacts with a political party in Great Britain. The BDP has relations with the Conservative Party while the BMD has relations with the Liberal Democrats in the UK.
Through its relationship with the Labour Party, the BCP like other parties represented in this Parliament, has benefited from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a UK based foundation that promotes the building of democracy. The assistance has in the main taken the form of training workshops that are geared at capacitating our political party to better prepare it to play its meaningful role as a political actor in our democracy.
Strong political parties are a very important link in the chain of democracy and Botswana as a multi party democracy must celebrate all attempts to strengthen the political parties of this country as they are the main vehicles through which the public can express their political aspirations.
In the history of Botswana politics, the BDP is the leading pioneer of sourcing funds from foreign based political foundations. In the early 1990’s the BDP was supported by a German based Foundation known as the Frederich Ebert Foundation, as indicated by the record of Garekwe versus The State criminal case of 1993. This sponsorship was never made public and only got to be public knowledge following the embezzlement of the funds by the party employees.
For many years the BDP has been receiving financial support from the Communist Party of China. On September 7, 2006, Mmegi newspaper reported as follows; “The ruling BDP continues to amass resources and handsome monetary contributions from overseas benefactors whilst its opponents are still fighting for the crumbs they get from local sponsors. Early this week, the BDP is believed to have received a windfall from a strange ideological bedmate, the Communist Party of China.” Was this “go memela batho go tswa moseja go pitikolola di party tsa kganetso?”
Some years back, the then Treasurer of the African National Congress, Matthews Phoza, was invited to officiate at a BDP Women’s Wing event. He made a monetary donation to the BDP Women’s Wing, much to the ululation of the BDP leadership.
It is therefore hypocritical of the BDP to suggest that financial or technical assistance that emanates from a credible and transparent foundation should be shunned upon. Had the BDP sold the country to foreign interests, as suggested by Kgathi, when they received sponsorship for their political workshops from the Frederich Ebert Foundation?
Unlike the BDP, the BCP has never been a recipient of funds from external sources that we would like to keep secret. It will be recalled that in 2010, the media was awash with reports of the De Beers and Debswana slush funds that were reported to have been in operation for over three decades. The BDP was the main beneficiary of the secret slush funds that were used to fund the party campaigns.
The party never refuted that it was a beneficiary of what the Debswana Board of Directors had termed “Executive Entertainment Vote.” In the run up to the 1999 elections the media reported about the secret funds transferred to the BDP accounts originating from an off shore company linked to the Debeers group of companies.
It is surprising that when the BCP receives funds from a credible foundation promoting democracy, the BDP labels such assistance as a coup. It may make sense to assume that the three members who wish to ring alarm bells on the technical assistance that the BCP has received is not based on any malice but that it’s just misplaced expression based on innocent naivety and political ignorance, given that they have never had the opportunity to assume top leadership positions in the leadership of the party and better appreciate issues of fraternal relations between political parties. Such ignorance is however not excusable, given the publicly available information on the conduct of their parties financial dealings. As the saying goes, if you are living in a glass house, do not throw stones.
In conclusion, we wish to point out that the BCP has always been transparent about its financial transactions. The BDP agents do not have any moral authority to lecture anyone about transparency in resource mobilisation. We have no objections to the cordial relations that the BDP has maintained with the British Conservative Party and the assistance they have received from the Conservatives.
They should accept that as a government in waiting, the BCP has every right to collaborate with political formations that subscribe to the values of social democracy, which is the basis of our policy framework. I wish to assure Batswana that under a BCP government, there will be public funding of political parties to make sure that the very vehicles that carry the political aspirations of our people are strengthened.
We will also regulate foreign funding of political parties to ensure that it is done in a transparent manner and reduce the risk of such funding compromising the nations interests. Political parties will be held to account for the management of the funds they receive from the public purse. The playing ground will be made fair and level, and the days of a ruling party that resorts to cry baby tactics when opposition parties seem to access resources from the same sponsors as the ruling party will be over.
* Dumelang Saleshando is Gaborone Central MP and Leader of Opposition in Parliament