Yoke of marriage breaks BNF
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday November 1, 2019 12:30
The party, which before the coalition was once considered the country’s formidable opposition, has seen its performance drop over the last 10 years, Mmegi has observed.
BNF is a constituent member of UDC alongside the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana People’s Party (BPP).
Following the 2009 general elections, the BNF took a resolution to bring opposition parties together for them to go on a mission to take over government.
Like the yoke of marriage, the coalition that came to be known as UDC was celebrated for strength in this formal union, as for the first time, opposition looked set to finally have a fair chance at wrestling power out of the grasp of the ruling party.
But as soon as the honeymoon was over, it was the BNF – once a prized find and a good thing – that took up the space of the long-suffering wife while keeping the family unit alive, and faithfully staying behind her husband (UDC) with an insatiable appetite for greatness.
Spent as the BNF was from compromising a lot for the sake of unity, like marital bliss and love waning, so were its structures collapsing.
The ideology that kept it intact seemed to be fading away. It was in 2012, when the BNF formed alliance with the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) that the former gave away prime constituencies to the latter.
When UDC came up with impressive numbers after the 2014 General Election, the BNF had eight Members of Parliament while the BMD, a splinter of the Botswana Democratic Party that formed in 2010, got nine parliamentary seats of the 17 that UDC won.
These parliamentary seats that the coalition acquired were an impressive feat for a leading opposition. Despite losing to BDP, for the UDC the optics were grand and had promising prospects for the next general elections. But for the BNF, like the wife – once a prized find – in her husband’s shadow, the party had suffered.
As the biggest opposition party, the BNF had been allocated a few more constituencies than its UDC partners, however, it won one less than the BMD.
For instance, in the Gaborone constituencies, the BNF gave to the BMD three out of five. By then the BMD was new and had not contested any elections. However, this did not go down well with some of the BNF members who felt their president, Duma Boko, had neglected his party and rather promoted UDC, starving BNF of leadership and attention.
The outcome of the 2019 General Election, which reflected that the party lost its strongholds south of Dibete, has worsened the acrimony. This is so as in the just-ended general elections and a transformed coalition (tri-party of BNF, BCP and BPP), of the 15 parliamentary seats UDC got, BNF won only four, a far cry from the inroads of the 2014 elections, while the BCP, new to the coalition, won a staggering 11 seats, a bump up from the dismal three it had won as a standalone.
Mmegi is in possession of conversations where some of the members were colluding to lobby one of the academics (a name known to this publication) to challenge Boko for the party presidency in the coming congress to be held in July 2020.
One of the members said the party was on its knees and needed to introspect.
“To be honest, Boko has been doing well, but there is something that we have not been doing right. We are on our knees. The party needs to introspect seriously! This is the first experience or a shock for us to lose all our strongholds. I do not think our party is growing as some may say, and want to know how they measure (that) growth,” one member said.
The member said there was need now for the party to ensure that its structures were existent and revived to embark on political education.
Another member said it was time for the party to debate less and work hard on the ground to stop deceptive measures and gauges taken from rallies.
Another member said the BNF had late primary elections that impacted negatively on its prospects in the just-ended general elections.
Moreover the party had some of the cases resolved by the courts before nomination day.
Party spokesperson, Justin Hunyepa said the BNF has grown as a party and that was why it has managed to hold successful conferences and congresses.
“The main objective of the party, which Boko did very well was to bring opposition parties together. When you are in a marriage, one needs to compromise and BNF did exactly that.
The main issue is not about the MPs as a party. We want to bring performance of the coalition. If each party is going to be greedy and work for itself,then we will never get anywhere. Of course the coalition has advantages and disadvantages. Boko is the driver of it,” Hunyepa said.
He admitted that primary elections which are held on the year of the general elections are no good for a party and the BNF would revive its collapsed structures.
Political analyst Anthony Morima concurred that the BNF as a party was going down simply because it was the party president that was also the leader of the UDC.
“It is difficult for him to manage two parties and that forced him to concentrate on the UDC more than the BNF. That is why some of the BNF members were complaining that some committees are not functioning.
The reason why Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has done so well is because of its party president’s commitment to it. The BNF needs to go back to the drawing board,” Morima said.