FCC councillors play games while people suffer
Chakalisa Dube | Friday December 7, 2018 13:57
They often face the responsibility of dealing with intricate, personal and social problems that some of their constituents experience.
One of their key roles is to develop a long-term strategic vision that will have a lasting effect on their people. But it appears the Francistown civic leaders have developed a penchant for political gamesmanship and expediency at the expense of their people.
Although councillors have often accused the council administrative wing of failing to comply with their resolutions, their performance has been below par for years. This year was no exception.
A cursory look at the activities of the Francistown City Council (FCC) from the chambers since the beginning of the year appear to back widespread assertions that politicians in the city have abandoned voters for personal gain.
In the past, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and opposition councillors clashed in the august House in a contest to show their political strength in order to seize full control of the council.
However, this year the opposition has played a spectator role as BDP councillors fought each other in order to scale their control of the party and key political positions for political expediency.
Debates at full council meetings have often achieved little as a failed motion to oust the city mayor, Sylvia Muzila, overshadowed their business.
Just when the civic leaders assembled for the first council meeting, they tabled a motion to topple Muzila. It was for the umpteenth time that the councillors had attempted to topple Muzila. According to reports, the motion to topple the mayor was sponsored by amongst others, nominated councillor Andy Boatile.
Despite his denial it was alleged he did so on account of his squabbles with the mayor. The real reason for her removal was reportedly not based on competence, but solely on account of her petty differences with Boatile and other BDP councillors.
The spectacle cast a dark shadow over the debates amongst councillors. They tended to abandon their assignments and focussed on personal differences, which left many questions of the constituents unanswered.
Because there was no evidence that the councillors had explored diplomatic routes to find an amicable solution to their troubles with Muzila, one cannot be faulted for assuming that the motion was purely brought up in bad faith.
In April this year, activities of the council were once again overshadowed by another motion of no confidence against Muzila.
Perhaps, in a move to thwart efforts to topple her, Muzila decided to halt council proceedings in order ‘to allow the FCC to mourn’ the death of Moselewapula ward councillor Lechedzani Modenga who had succumbed to a long illness. He was also the former deputy mayor before he was ousted last year.
This time around, BDP Kanana ward councillor, Cornelius Gopolang was the sponsor of the motion. It is not far-fetched to assume that Gopolang’s actions were fuelled by political greed as he had always harboured ambitions of becoming a mayor. In this instance, there was also no effort made to end the toxic relationship between Muzila and her councillors.
The narrative might be right because days before attempting to table the motion, Gopolang described the address by the city mayor, Muzila as lacklustre.
He had previously made it known that he wanted to be city mayor. By switching to a critical mode when discussing Muzila’s speech, Gopolang might have been trying to garner support from other councillors in his bid to topple the mayor.
This was another testimony that FCC councillors have abandoned their call of addressing a myriad of problems bedevilling the city that is also ravaged by youth unemployment and other ills in favour of personal interests.
So much has gone wrong in the city in recent years. But when the civic leaders are needed the most, they continued to play hardball.
In their submissions at the council chambers, they had dismally failed to come up with new approaches that could bring about success to the city. This is despite the majority that the BDP civic leaders enjoy.
The challenges of the Francistown councillors became more amplified when they discussed key issues affecting the city. The debate on the closure of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) Francistown abattoir comes to mind.
While they maintained that the closure of the abattoir was not ideal, they did not offer alternatives. They appeared to be talking from uninformed positions. They uttered the rhetoric that sounded well, but could not actually help the suffering farmers.While the Minister of Agricultural Development and Security maintained that the BMC Francistown abattoir had contributed to the huge losses of the Corporation, the councillors maintained that the government was closing the facility so that it could be sold to the well-connected elite.
If they were genuinely interested in the welfare of the farmers, they could have done thorough research on the alternatives. Farmers were even better when presenting their suggestions as they offered very coherent solutions to the BMC.
News was spread then that it was Gopolang who sponsored the motion for Muzila’s ouster. The Kanana councillor was quick to deny that he was motivated by a need to take over as the next mayor.
“I was not eyeing the position of mayor. The plan was to elevate the current deputy mayor Godisang Radisigo to become the mayor and I would be the deputy mayor,” Gopolang had explained in a previous interview.
He was steadfast this was the plan of the party caucus and not his sole plan.
At the BDP caucus meeting, the frustrated Gopolang stated his concerns with the mayor who has a penchant of violating the council Standing Orders.
“I stated that if she was going to deliberately violate the procedures of the council, then that will be too much to tolerate.”
Gopolang emphasised that it was the councillors who resolved that there be a meeting with the mayor, the BDP Francistown region leadership and the councillors.
Since the mayor had issues with one of the councillors, Boatile, she opted to recuse herself and allowed her deputy Radisigo to represent her.
He said it was a normal practice that the party caucus should come up with resolutions on pertinent issues; hence a resolution was made to oust Muzila.
He felt the mayor had not been serving the FCC and the public diligently. Rather, Gopolang strongly felt the mayor was often too personal and disruptive of council business.
Deputy mayor, Radisigo admitted that the failed motions to oust the mayor took a toll on the councillors’ planned business.
“Such failed motions took our time when we had other important issues to discuss affecting development of our city. For instance, constituency developments have stalled completely,” he said, citing the paving of some roads in his ward which have taken more time than necessary because of lack of supervision from the council.
“As councillors, we need to work together as a unit so that we satisfy those who have mandated us efficiently,” he said, hoping that the situation would change next year. This week’s full council meeting was the last for 2018 with the next one slated for February 2019.