BNF holds leadership forum next month
Oarabile Mosikare | Tuesday January 27, 2015 17:51
BNF spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa said in a press release yesterday that the leadership forum would be held from February 28 to March 1.
“This event allows the leadership of the party to meet under one roof and consult each other on issues that affect the party. It is consultative and its decisions are non-binding as compared to the conferences and congresses, whose decisions are instructive and binding,” said Mohwasa.
The BNF spokesperson said the weekend meeting was attended by the party leaders from the central committee, youth and women leagues, secretaries and chairpersons from the regions and constituencies, MPs and councillors. He stated that this year’s BNF conference would be held in Francistown in July. “It will draw five delegates from each ward and the central committee. The auxiliary bodies, being the youth and women’s leagues will also send delegations.” The BNF was founded in 1965 immediately after the country’s self-government elections just before full independence in 1966. It will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. For years, the major force behind the BNF was the late Dr Kenneth Koma. Kgosi Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, a progressive chief of the Bangwaketse tribe resigned from his position to join the BNF and lead it. Mohwasa said the party contested the elections for the first time in 1969. Since then, it has been the second most popular political party in the country. “In the 2014 general elections, it contested under the banner of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). The UDC brings together the BNF, Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). The UDC came second after the BDP. One will therefore not be wrong to say that the UDC epitomises the unity of opposition parties that the BNF has always fought for,” Mohwasa said. He said the main BNF 50th anniversary commemoration in the last quarter of the year, will be preceded by regional celebrations. “Veteran members and those who have sacrificed and made outstanding contributions to the growth of the party will be acknowledged,” he explained.
The national celebrations committee will be headed by Mohwasa. He said details of the celebrations will be released after consultations with relevant authorities and structures.