Origins of BDP-BOSETU tattered relations
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday August 29, 2014 15:03
The media reported this week that angry BOSETU congress delegates jeered and forced Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) executive secretary Sechele Sechele to pack his bags and unceremoniously leave the congress venue at the Majestic Five Hotel.
The BDP was officially invited to give a solidarity message to the delegates alongside opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
BCP was represented by secretary general, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang while his UDC counterpart, Ndaba Gaolathe, who is also Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) president, also addressed the congress.
Whilst Sechele suffered the embarrassment of being jeered and taunted as he tried to give his solidarity message, the two opposition representatives, Gobotswang and Gaolathe were the darlings of the delegates.
The opposition representatives were in the front row and saw how the amity between the BDP and BOSETU crumbled.
They watched gleefully as history was being re-written.
The foundation of the BOSETU-BDP was set by BDP secretary general, Mpho Balopi at the Adansonia Hotel last year.
At the time, Balopi was the cynosure of all eyes last year at the BOSETU special congress held at the Adansonia Hotel here, where his party was invited to give a solidarity message.
It was camaraderie all the way as the BDP and BOSETU sealed their much-hyped newfound love at the time with song and dance.
But in Palapye this week it showed that the BDP-BOSETU love affair was more ‘cosmetic’ than real.
Then, Balopi ‘s charm was able to repair, albeit temporarily, the hostilities between the trade unionists and the BDP, which had apparently been damaged by ‘false promises’ and bad feelings that existed between them and Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and her predecessors.
It was at Adansonia Hotel that Balopi pledged to dole out to the BOSETU choir an amount of P10,000 annually.
As things turned out this week, BOSETU is seemingly saying to Balopi and his BDP that ‘money can’t buy political love’.
Education and Skills Development Minister, Venson-Moitoi was present when Balopi frolicked with BOSETU choirs in those good times.
In fact, she (Venson-Moitoi) even later joined in the song and dance in appreciation of the newfound love.
The relationship was hatched at a time when Venson-Moitoi had had skirmishes with the trade unionists over their conditions of service and others.
The minister could not agree with the trade unionists over a number of issues.
Most importantly, it was on the cause of the poor performance of Botswana students in the final examinations.
The matter at some stage had to reach the highest office in the land - the Office of the President.
President Ian Khama hosted the teachers at State House in an endeavour to placate the educators. Thereafter, tempers sort of abated.
From then, henceforth, Venson-Moitoi and BOSETU started reaching out to each other.
Balopi had also come in handy at the right time, to bail out the ‘shrinking’ minister from her clashes with the trade unionists.
His gesture apparently worked well for the BDP at that time.
This week, the minister also witnessed Sechele being harangued out of the Majestic Five Hotel hall.
Assistant Minister Keletso Rakhudu was also in attendance as he was also to speak at the Tuesday event.
At the same congress, opposition BCP and UDC representatives were given the red carpet as they strode to the podium to address the delegates on matters of workers’ welfare generally, and their respective parties’ labour agenda.
They (opposition parties) were apparently welcome through rapturous applauses.
With no more jeers and taunts that were reserved for the BDP activist, delegates composed themselves and listened attentively to speeches by Dr Gobotswang and Gaolathe from BCP and UDC respectively.
The duo was unequivocally given a chance to duly articulate their labour policies to the delegates. It was, or still is, apparent that the death of former UDC secretary general, Gomolemo Motswaledi has shifted political interest to the UDC as BOSETU delegates sang Motswaledi’s popular hymn, “Morena o ba etele...” in memory of the fallen hero.
It may not come as a surprise if the UDC could attract sympathetic votes from the teachers as they have already declared their sympathy to the tri-party coalition as a result of the death of Motswaledi.
By yesterday, Sechele was still licking his wounds, obviously still reeling in shock at what transpired at the Majestic Five Hotel in Palapye.
He stated that the jeers, taunts and boos were evidently targeted at his party, the BDP that he represented at the congress.
“I had not said anything as I was not even given a chance to deliver the solidarity message I had from the party,” said Sechele in an interview yesterday. BOSETU had invited him together with the two opposition party representatives.
Sensing that the delegates were growing hostile with time, Sechele had decided to whittle down his address to something that he thought would resonate with them.
“But, they booed me and the only logical thing was to peacefully exit the meeting to avoid more harm.”
Sechele is an administrator employed by the BDP at its headquarters, Tsholetsa House in Gaborone. He is not a practicing politician per se.
Explaining the turn of events at Majestic Five Hotel, BOSETU secretary general, Tobokani Rari hastened to acknowledge that “events unfolded very quickly, and very quickly for that matter”.
He was aware that in 2013, the BDP was given a rousing welcome at the union’s special congress in Francistown.
He chronicled events that he thought could have fuelled the defiant attitude of the delegates.
Amongst others, he indicated the prolonged negotiations for salaries, which went out of kilter until President Ian Khama unilaterally awarded public servants a four percent salary increment.
“Many other factors in the minds of the workers could have fuelled that level of hatred towards the ruling party, and hence the reception of the BDP was completely different from last year’s,” said Rari.
Rari indicated that Sechele was supposed to have spoken after Assistant Minister Rakhudu.
“It was about how Sechele presented himself at the congress that he earned the wrath of the delegates.
“That did not help the cause and it only incited the feelings of the teachers.”
“Sechele and the BDP should have noted that ours was a congress and not a church,” Rari stressed, though he declined to elaborate.