Decades fighting in the trenches

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday August 5, 2016 12:20

To many in the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the opposition in general, Moeti Mohwasa is viewed as a battle-hardened fighter who had stood for his party during the good and the difficult.

Although peace now prevails in the BNF, the party has a long, tortured history of internal strife and division. As its long-time publicity secretary, Mohwasa gained nationwide fame for defending the BNF at times when many thought it was on the brink of collapse.

When some BNF Members of Parliament (MP) defected, when his president hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, when factions threatened to split the party for good, Mohwasa became known for resolutely defending the party against its critics and prophets of doom.

Mohwasa recently won the BNF elections for the position of secretary general. Although he won by a small margin after his lobby team, which was supporting him, lost all positions, members openly said they voted for him because he had been loyal to BNF during difficult times.

 

Humble beginnings

Mohwasa joined politics in 1978 on his way home from a football match.

“I found a BNF rally addressed by Kenneth Koma, Mareledi Giddie and James Olesitse.  They raised issues that made sense and I was able to connect with them. “Two years earlier there was a strike by BCL Mine employees, which was essentially about racism at the mine.

“My parents had, prior to perishing in a car accident in 1974, owned some businesses not far from the mine,” Mohwasa said

He continued: “I would hear the miners while shopping or stopping over for something to eat, talk about racism and exploitation at the mine.  To me these miners were ‘my parents’ and I felt there was need to change their situation.  The left politics seemed to appeal to me because they sought to provide answers to this political conundrum.”

He said at the time Selebi Phikwe hosted refugees from Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Lesotho.

Mohwasa said he learned a lot from them in terms of their thought posture, experiences and others.

The BNF, he found, provided him with a platform to interact with like-minded comrades.

“I read literature, which essentially exposed the Botswana Democratic Party as a neo-colonialist organisation.  It is doing its bidding on behalf of the West and all it had achieved was flag and national anthem independence. Batswana remained poor and we were not economically independent,” Mohwasa said.

In 1979 Mohwasa came across a BNF campaign, which was led by Giddie who stood for the party in the general elections in Selebi Phikwe. The campaign lacked funds, but what struck him was this strong commitment to principle.

“This resilience by the BNF cadres touched me.  The BDP campaign was well-oiled and funded by a big business in town, owned by white people. I do not believe in racism or tribalism, but what I realised was that the white community funded the BDP because it preserved their privilege and supremacy.  I also was active in UB student politics,” he said.

Mohwasa was a member of the University of Botswana (UB) group, MASS, which was the BNF student branch.  He found his fellow students to be very serious about politics and ruthless in debates.

“They were so serious about politics.  They detested what to them was a distraction. Showing affection for a girlfriend/boyfriend publicly, being overdressed etc was outside the menu. This, to some, was against communist morality and discipline.

“I remember the story of a comrade who expressed his displeasure in a MASS BNF meeting about a comrade he had supported for election into the SRC after he saw him strolling with a girlfriend following his election.

“When I voted for him I thought I was voting for a revolutionary, little I did not know I was voting for a committed lover,” Mohwasa recalled the ‘comrade’ as saying.

The students used to go to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Embassy in Gaborone to secure literature published by the Novosti Press Agency.  Mohwasa found that the literature provided answers to some of the prevailing vexations within the party and the world.

Mohwasa said he has always been for the weak, the downtrodden and the oppressed.

“I do not believe in putting wealth and riches before principle.  I do not take a position because I want to please someone.  I am always informed by principle and what in my estimation represents the closest position to party ideals.”

“In 1991 I was elected the Vice Chairman of the Selebi Phikwe Constituency Committee and the following year the Chairman.

“I worked closely with other comrades to ensure that the party won all the wards in Selebi Phikwe.  That is when Gilson Saleshando became the BNF MP for the area.”

In 1996 Mohwasa took leave from politics and set up The Mirror newspaper, which he later on sold.

He returned to active politics when he felt his services were needed and was elected the BNF’s information and publicity secretary at the 2005 Ledumang Congress. Just before the congress, he attended a short course on “How to Handle the Media” and read a lot on public relations.

“I have to say Ledumang has always been a hoodoo venue for the BNF.  It was after the 1997 Ledumang Congress, that contradictions emerged within the party, which led to the formation of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP).

“After the 2005 Congress problems emerged again, which led to the 2007 Molepolole Special Congress and ultimately the poor performance in the 1999 general elections,” Mohwasa said.

“With the benefit of hindsight I am able to look back at the challenges we had and believe that if both sides had acted differently, the BNF wouldn’t have done poorly in the 1999 general elections where it was expected to take over government and in 2009.”

Mohwasa said as the party spokesperson he made it a point never to launch into personal attacks against opponents. He believed in clean politics as he believed insults would chase people away and did not attract voters.  The philosophy was in keeping with a teaching from the late former BNF leader Dr Kenneth Koma who encouraged members not to attack the BDP leaders personally and even said where the ruling party had done well, it should be congratulated.

“One of the years I won’t forget is back in 1996 when in-fighting emerged. I remember at one stage the then leader was accused of secretly meeting Ian Khama and Festus Mogae in Kasane to sell out the BNF.

“The time that he was alleged to have met them in Kasane was the very time when we were in a meeting with him in Gaborone.

“There was so much misinformation and mudslinging.”

He recalled the events leading to the 2007 Molepolole special congress as particularly ‘hurtful’.

“I used to spend sleepless nights strategising on how to counter what I felt was an onslaught from within and outside.  The party was under attack from its members, the media and opponents.”

Mohwasa said someone had to stand up to defend the party and in terms of the constitution that person was him.

“Politically I have to say, I was still wet behind the ears.  I was given a baptism of fire.

“I’m not sure if I rose to the occasion, but I gave it my all.  I had to go out and calm the waters in a very hostile environment.

“I was doing this on behalf of the collective.  It was not me talking, but the party. In our parlance we would say, I was the first amongst equals. Comrades who came forward to defend the party were many.”

According to Mohwasa, the principle was not about defending a particular individual but the party.  One major narrative the BNF fought hard against was the heavily reported story that party president, Otsweletse Moupo had gone to London and become stranded there due to financial difficulties. The controversy blew up shortly after Mohwasa had assumed the role of spokesperson.

“The reality was that he could not have been allowed to go to London without a return ticket.  The truth is that he had applied for an advance on his salary.”

Mohwasa emphasised that he would do it all again if he felt the party as under threat.

“The BNF is the hope of the poor, the oppressed and it has a role to play in our society.  I cannot imagine a Botswana without the BNF.  It has to be defended to protect the gains and aspirations of this people.  If we had not defended the party, it would have disintegrated politically and organisationally.”

 

Politics vs social life

Mohwasa admitted that his service to the party has resulted in him neglecting his businesses, which required more time, and him also denying quality time with his family.  Mohwasa has three daughters and three sons.  He recalled that his daughter, Masego once complained that he gives the BNF more attention than them.

He said just like other party leaders, he used family resources to finance party political activities. “But really someone has to do it. The sacrifices and costs that we make to enhance our democracy are huge. They are not only financial but also social.”

 Mohwasa grew up as a Seventh Day Adventist, but currently worships at Fruit of Life Ministries.

He said in everything he does he puts prayer first.

“I do not believe in holding grudges. I like robust and engaging debate.”