Ignatious Moswaane: The political come backer!

Ryder Gabathuse | Friday March 14, 2014 16:16

 

FRANCISTOWN: As a young man playing with his peers in the dusty grounds of Sefhare village in Tswapong South, politician Ignatius Moswaane had a dream of becoming a pilot.

Born 47 years ago, to poor peasants, Ntseane and Otsholetseng Moswaane, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) politician said he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

With his humble beginnings, his family life just like many families in Botswana, struggled to make ends meet.

One of his aunties, Gaogalalwe Tsheko was one of the earliest airhostesses to be employed by the national airliner, Air Botswana.

Moswaane grew up watching his auntie’s good life in her prestigious job. Moswaane’s auntie even shared her airborne experiences with the young Moswaane and other relatives and this left the young Moswaane desiring to pilot Air Botswana planes. Moswaane’s dream was shattered at the very tender age of five, when his mother died.

Because of his family background, pre-school education was not a priority for the family as they only made it to government schools to start at Standard One.

His dream of flying machines went up in smoke before it could even start mainly because he got laden with huge responsibilities at a very tender age. He had to balance between providing for the family and advancing to tertiary level.

In his quest to put more food on the family table, Moswaane missed an opportunity to go to university or college and instead opted to find a job for the sake of rescuing the family.

The family situation was compounded by the fact that around 1984, he witnessed his father’s cattle, the only means of livelihood, wiped out by a devastating drought. It was in 1984 that he relocated to the then town of Francistown in search of job opportunities.

“I got employed by Express Cartage as a junior clearing clerk and I went through the ranks until I became the branch manager,” said politician Moswaane.

He worked for the company for 11 continuous years before resigning to set up his own. He decided to use the skills acquired from his previous employer. The business traded under the name Worldwide Freight Services, which dealt in clearing, transportation and forwarding.

When the going got tough in the market Moswaane opted to divert into the business of supply and distribution of goods.

The business did well initially until government introduced new tendering procedures, which he said toughened the situation.

He would later divert into motor dealing business in which he became an agent for some Durban-based companies dealing in imported motor vehicles. Moswaane’s grand entrance into politics came in 1987 after attaining the BDP membership and he became fully active in 2002.

He was driven into politics, he has said, by the mere fact that he had realised that a lot of politicians were into the vocation for personal gains.

“I have come to notice that a lot of politicians are not representing the interests of the masses and instead they wish to see the people worshipping them for what they have,” he claimed.

He came to Monarch at a time when the low-income location was poorly and least developed in Francistown.

In his quest to change the fortunes of the low-income location of Monarch, Moswaane stood for the BDP council primaries in Monarch South ward and won.

Whilst celebrating his first ever win in politics, he received the bad news from the BDP that a re-run was ordered after Baboni Mosalagae who had lost to him lodged a complaint citing irregularities.

To prove that the earlier win was no fluke, Moswaane would win again to snatch the party ticket. He would later sail through in the general elections held in 2004.

His political career rose to the extent that Moswaane was elected city mayor in 2004/05.

It is through the mayorship that Moswaane has gained experience of working with the community, stakeholders and the corporate world.

“I was able to appreciate that as a leader, one really needs enlightened people around him/her who could critically provide guidance and direction on issues of importance,” he said, speaking about his sojourn as a mayor.

From within the BDP, Moswaane gained a lot of experience from the party factions at the time. Come 2008, he stood for the party primaries in Monarch South against Mosalagae again.  Just like the previous primaries, Moswaane won the first leg but he had to contend with another protest from his competition.

To his surprise, the party leadership ordered a re-run though the protester had prayed for a simple recount. He fought tooth and nail to oppose a re-run but it was all in vain.

He would later lose to the then nominated civic leader Mosalagae. After realising that about 700 names of people who were eligible to vote were removed from the voters’ roll, he decided to stand as an independent candidate.

He strongly believed that the system was trying to get rid of him in a subtle way. “I even protested to the president of the party but I was not given audience at all. It became logical that I resign from the party and represent the aspirations of the people as an independent.”

He reached the conclusion of going solo after widely consulting the constituents and after he was assured of their support, he did not look back.

After winning the general elections, he returned to the BDP with a seat in 2010. As it has now become the norm with Moswaane, last year he won the party primaries.  Whyte Marobela, a BDP activist in Francistown-West constituency won a court case barring both him and his party, BDP from contesting in the by-election, following the passing on of Member of Parliament, Tshelang Masisi in 2013.

Moswaane is still worried that last year he was interdicted from contesting the by-election on the very day of nomination.  He concurred that his barring came at a huge cost to him as he had invested his funds into the contest and he would never recover a thebe of it.

If he had been allowed to contest the by-election, which was precipitated by the death of Masisi, Moswaane would have won, he told Mmegi confidently. Just recently, Moswaane won fresh BDP primaries ordered in the Francistown-West constituency. To him, this is a telling story that his popularity in the constituency is permanent.

Fearing for his political life, Moswaane has engaged his personal attorney from the law firm S. Thapelo Attorneys to investigate a possibility of the unfinished case of Marobela further, lest it affects his candidacy.

“We still have a fresh experience from the embarrassing matter in which Marobela lodged a protest that is yet to be resolved by the party,” said Moswaane.

Moswaane is still tormented by statements made by some party leaders pertaining to the Marobela matter.

One of the things that worried him was a suggestion by some members of the party central committee that an independent candidate should be supported by the BDP in the January 25 by-election, which was widely rejected by the Francistown West constituents.

“I am still fearful that some party leaders do not favour me as the party candidate, which contradicts the views of the constituents who have given me the party ticket.” Moswaane considers himself the voice of the voiceless and his plan is to go to parliament and articulate clearly the voice of the people.

This time around he does not want to get stuck in inner party politics at the expense of representing the people. “The challenges facing the constituents are many and varied.

“We are currently engaged in inner party politics that do not help improve the lives of the masses who are waiting eagerly for us to rescue them,” declared Moswaane. At his office in Monarch, where this interview is taking place, hordes trickle in for various assistances, which undoubtedly make Moswaane appear like the area MP already.

“I attend to masses everyday, the young and old seeking various services. That old man there, is seeking help relating to his citizenship issue.

“Those young people gathered there are waiting for assistance on their business plans,” said Moswaane excitedly. Moswaane considers himself a voice that is currently missing in parliament, as his mission is to articulate the issues of the low-income people.

“It’s my mission that the school drop-outs get their hope for better life by according them the right government programmes that will enhance their lives,” he pointed out, indicating that infrastructural development in low-income locations are at the top of his priority list.

For Moswaane, it’s pay back time as he said: “since the constituents have made me who I am, politically, there is every reason for me to sweat for their rights.”

He still denies that his supporters were guilty of fraud following a petition in which names of many people were used and signatures forged to force Vice President Ponatshego Kedikilwe to postpone the Francistown West by-election last year to January 25 this year.

“The people you are accusing to have forged names, identity cards and signatures of people have recently made sworn affidavits to the police that they indeed signed the petition,” he explained claiming that some of the documents carried by the newspapers recently were not in their possession and did not originate from them.

He completely does not ascribe to a notion of a rich country and poor nation. He feels that it is time Botswana restructured her earnings and expenditures.

He contends that the national budget does not truly reflect how Batswana live adding that the workers were not getting what they really deserve.

At 47 years now, Moswaane will never revive his dream career of becoming a pilot but instead, he is busy shaping his political career, which is fairly on the rise.