Coronavirus leads to postponement of major political events
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Saturday April 4, 2020 00:48
The parties lament that they might be forced to change their calendar due to the advent o the virus and that would also have financial implications.
Most parties this year were supposed to hold their elective congresses and they are left with confusion as to whether hey will hold such events
The parties survive by the membership subscription funds and donations from business people.
“We are going through a painful time that we do not have power to do anything about it. As a party, we were forced to postpone lot of our activities like women’s wing, which was supposed to be on April 24, party victory celebrations that was scheduled in March and regional congresses and cells. The party is at stand still because we cannot have meetings or hold any activities. Of course we are going to be forced to change our calendar. We do not know how long this pandemic will end but we hope that it would not affect our July elective congress, mind you we postponed it last year due to general the elections,” Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) spokesperson Kagelelo Kentse said.
Kentse also said they do understand the importance of State of Emergence as a way of trying to fight Coronavirus disease.
For his part, Botswana National Front (BNF) secretary general Moeti Mohwasa said the party had suspended all its activities till the end of April so that they could assess the situation.
“We were supposed to hold regional and constituency congresses to prepare for both youth and central committee elective congresses. By end of April, we will know if we can hold youth congress or not. We hope the government would have brought the situation under control. We are waiting for Parliament to also take decision on whether it increases the days of Lockdown or not,” Mohwasa said.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) spokesperson Dithapelo Keorapetse said the organisation’s annual event is likely to be affected because the party does not know how long the Coronavirus would last.
“For our weekly meeting, we could hold it through WhatsApp but for major events, we had no choice but we had to postpone them. We have to plan for our constitutional conference and elective congress. Our party was suppose to hold political rallies and regional meetings but we were forced to postpone them,” Keorapetse said.