Joina: A Confident Loser

By Lekopanye Mooketsi
Correspondent | Monday November 2, 2009 00:00

 

 'Oh! My friend MELS will rule this country one day. By then the president of the movement might not be Joina,' he said as a matter of fact. 'Right now, people are joining us,' he added. All that the MELS leader is remaining with is to harness the new membership into votes. He said that his party has 20,000 registered members with huge support in places like Kgalagadi. However, the party did not field candidates in Kgalagadi and only got 292 votes countrywide. This shows that even a councillor in a typical ward performed better than MELS as a party.  MELS fielded four parliamentary candidates including Joina himself, who was standing in Mogoditshane. He was voted for by 85 people. This was an improvement to the number that voted for him in 2004. Even the television publicity failed to sell him.  Joina, who is the only spokesman for MELS, appeared on a number of political debates on Botswana Television (Btv) with representatives of other parties. While other parties delegated different officials for the debates, MELS was always represented by its president.

The MELS leader said that one of their candidates was disqualified in Molepolole North because it was claimed that they did not submit their party colours.  He said they have taken the matter to court. He argues that there was no need to submit the colours because they have already been made available to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

MELS did not nominate a presidential candidate for the general elections because the party failed to raise the required 1,000 signatures. Joina, who has been contesting the general elections since 1994, said they have realised that members of political parties hold dual membership. He said there are some MELS members who are affiliated to the Botswana National Front (BNF) or other political parties. He said they are trying to curb this practice by holding workshops for their members.    

Joina blames the electoral system for his party's woes. He said since this is a constituency based system, their members are not able to vote for the party where they have not fielded candidates. He called for a review of the electoral system. 

In the current system, he said, parties are not allocated parliamentary seats according to the number of votes they have attained. He said this could only be possible if there is proportional representation.

Joina said even though the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) got over 50 percent of the vote, the number of seats it has in Parliament is higher. He is dismayed by the fact that other opposition parties feel that if the electoral system is flawed, it is the end of political life.  Joina thinks that there could still be a way out. He said as opposition parties, they should demonstrate against the allocation of seats in Parliament.

Joina said MELS is disadvantaged in elections because it does not have resources. He said that during the campaigns when other parties were organising feasts for their members, MELS was only delivering messages.

Although other people might not take him as a serious revolutionary, Joina insisted that he is fighting for a good cause. 'I believe in socialism. As a politician, I don't want food.  I can make food for myself. I'm fighting for a cause. I'm the only person who can stand against the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) president, Ian Khama,' he declared. 

He stated that the statistics from the general elections show that MELS is growing. 'I believe our performance can be better if we put in more effort,' he said.

The MELS leader is confident that people will gradually recognise the principles that he is fighting for.  And that will be the time when the State House will be his for the taking.