Duma speaks

| Friday April 30, 2010 00:00

 

Mmegi: At what stage did you develop interest in politics?

Boko: I have always been passionate about human rights. You know politics is effectively an every day thing.

If you have a specific interest in the plight of those who are marginalised, you know, you have to find your way predisposed to gaining political understanding. But for me, I was influenced by my old man who was himself a BNF member and a leftist. I really started in the BNF study groups as early as high school and then later after moving to the University of Botswana. At Madiba Secondary School in Mahalapye, I was engaged in debating and we would obviously engage in political discussions. And that also refined my understanding.

I was also later highly influenced by the leading lights of the left who at the time were in the BNF. Interacting with such people as the late Dr Kenneth Koma, the late OK Menyatso, the late Mareledi Giddie, had a serious impact on my leftist orientation.    Mmegi: From Madiba, you moved to UB. How did that affect your political development?

Boko: I first had to serve Tirelo Sechaba in Kweneng West at a small village called Ngware. I came back and started at UB, reading Law. I became active in BNF politics, which was really leftist politics. In 1989 I was selected by the BNF to represent it at the International Youth Festival in Pyongyang in North Korea.

Mmegi: I have spoken to a number of politicians, especially those of your generation who always speak about the UB of the time as a kind of incubator in their political development. What was so special about UB in the 80s to the 90s that was so fertile and perhaps even combustible?

Boko: UB was a combustible environment. You see UB concentrated all young activists and naturally it became a seedbed of political activity. It was a very exciting time. The BNF was very strong in that environment and therefore it was an important time in our political growth.

You had access to leading intellectuals at the time such as Koma, and you also mixed with young thinkers around the campus. You also had lecturers who had a keen interest in politics.

Mmegi: You are trying to take over a party in crisis as we speak. It is disunited. It did very badly at the last elections. Its image has been battered.

Boko: The problems of the BNF are not new. In fact I would posit that this crisis has its foundation in the crisis of leadership in the party which began right at the time of Koma's presidency.

Mmegi: Caused by Koma as well...

Boko: And everyone who was there... One thing you need to understand is that Koma was not just a president of the party, he was its ideological godfather. He was an intellectual genius.

However, his intellectual genius resulted in complacency in the intelligentsia of the left. Comrades have to acknowledge their role in the crisis.

There was complacency to engage with him; to challenge him. He was glorified. This was reflected in the 1998 split when some would go as far as to say, 'Koma is the BNF, and the BNF is Koma'.

However, although Koma's leadership was a major aspect of the problem, we also have to explain the troubles of the BNF through comrades who did not engage with him; who failed to challenge him.

I was also of the view that comrades had to take responsibility for their failure to engage and their reliance on him. And so later on you had the opposite of that, a rejection of everything associated with Koma.

Mmegi: But you have to say it was a sort of knee-jerk reaction in a way...

Boko: Of course, some of it was simply knee-jerk. I think the departure of Koma could have been managed better. If we had dealt with building the party structurally during his time, then his departure would not have had to be a pitched battle against him. There would have been a smooth transition from his generation to the next.

The other challenge that we faced as a spin-off of Koma's era was that most intellectuals in the BNF have been people who are leftist. There was a time in history when being leftist was in vogue because of the cold war and this struggle between capitalism and communism.

If we are to use the common terminology, when communism collapsed, the intellectual inspiration of the left was undermined, not just within the BNF but everywhere. That reference point for the leftist intellectuals within the BNF was not there, and given that the BNF itself was dominated by leftist intellectuals, this also caused a crisis within the BNF.

Mmegi: Was the BNF a socialist organisation? And is it still that?

Boko: The BNF was never a socialist organisation. This confusion also explains the current crisis. The BNF, in belief, is leftist. But actually, in practice, it is not. In the BNF, at best, there should be competition between different tendencies.

If you look at the programmes of the BNF in terms of manifestos, there was nothing decidedly socialist about it. In some ways, they may have wanted to bring about some type of egalitarianism. So what would the BNF government do then? It would reject the neo-liberal project one of whose key pillars is the withdrawal of the state from the arena of production.

Mmegi: Earlier on you said the BNF allows various tendencies to coagulate. In layman's language, do you mean that it allows factions within?

Boko: The BNF allows tendencies not just to align but also to constitute themselves into formations.

Mmegi: What is the difference between that and factions?

Boko: A faction is when a defeated group, defeated in a proper vote, crystallises into a formation that disrupts the party functioning. That is unacceptable.

But the BNF says that minorities must be given space to express themselves so that there is no majoritarian tyranny; tyranny of the majority. Factionalism is often a result of a failure to accept the democratic outcome.

This rejection, caused by, for example, a feeling that you have been denied the right to express your view, and thus, the opportunity to help convince your fellow members. The BNF should embrace democracy so that no one leaves feeling that they have been denied their democratic right to propagate their own view.

Mmegi: These are complex problems; complex as in having a long history and being multifaceted. What makes you think you can solve them?

Boko: Obviously, I have a team to work with. But I think the party needs fresh brains. Younger leaders. Younger as in, not having been entrenched in any factional fights. Sufficiently detached from factions.

What we need is, if there is a feeling that the democratic space has been constricted for example, as we have seen with expulsions and suspensions, we need to go back to those expelled or suspended, understand their views, and bring them back to the party. We need to bring them back to the party. I don't think that is even an option. We need to invite everyone back subject to his or her allegiance to the party.

Mmegi: You have never contested for any other major position in the leadership of the party. How did you decide to contest the presidency?

Boko: In the American parlance, they have what are called 'Monday morning quarterbacks' meaning people who are not involved but are always good at criticising those who choose to be involved.  You only commit errors when you get involved. Sitting on the sidelines criticising those who have put themselves up to contest and be involved does not work. And when you feel you have the ability but you are not offering yourself, it borders on political irresponsibility.

In my battles championing the peoples' cause, you realise that you cannot bargain as an individual. You have to go back to be part of a movement... go back to a political party. I felt the time had come to take up activism.

I also felt that maybe what the party needs is its young and equipped to come and assist it. Secondly, ordinary people who felt I was the right person to take up leadership approached me and asked if I could avail myself. I engaged with them.

I felt the party needed solid and able people. I believe with my history of intellectual insurgency, I could speak on behalf of ordinary people.

Mmegi: You are a bachelor. In our society, which is still relatively traditional, Khama has been criticised for being a bachelor. As if his bachelorhood somehow blighted his leadership ability.

Boko: The interesting thing about me and marriage, if you go back to that column (The column Boko used to write for Mmegi's sister paper, The Monitor), you might find an early warning that this guy might want to get active in politics.  Anyway, at that point I scrutinised the institution of marriage. People thought I was against marriage. No. I was against it as it is currently configured. If there is anything I agree with Khama on, it is his right to exercise his choice on when and if he wants to get married. For now, however I am a bachelor, but for how long, I do not know.

Mmegi: Many people bare 'kana boBoko ke macat'. They are these new funky and largely urban boys. But BNF needs someone who can sit down in a village and listen to ordinary people having a drink, or mix with people in the so-called kasie. Someone who is comfortable among ordinary people.

Boko: There is some truth to the fact that to represent the plight of ordinary people you must be able to associate with them. That requires the trait of humility; humility to go into these god-forsaken places to see for yourself, to also listen, and to engage meaningfully with those people.

In many cases people who are educated see themselves as successful and often banish themselves from ordinary people. But how could I? I am a human rights lawyer. Being with ordinary people was my primary role.

However, we have to also move from that idea of stereotyping people. That for a person to be accepted as able to represent the interests of ordinary people he must be rugged and unable to take care of himself. That is an out-dated view.

Mmegi: Let's look at the BCP. What would be your agenda regarding cooperation with the BCP?

Boko: The issue of cooperation with the BCP is an imperative. We must not spend time debating on whether to or not. I think that is a given and members have said this over and over. What is up for debate is how; the modalities and the models. Fortunately, and this is anecdotal, but the general membership of the BNF demands cooperation. Some of them have said, 'We support you but our precondition is that you pursue this agenda'.  The important matter therefore is therefore to identify the challenges to this. I think in the past there had not been broad consultation with ordinary members, it was a debate that was led by the leadership.  But the general feeling is that the leadership is delaying. I was addressing a rally in Mahalapye just last week and people were saying 'a go tlogelwe mabela le makama'. As far as they are concerned the failure of cooperation was all about the arrogance of the leadership.

Mmegi: We have a new development now. The BDP has split and we have a new player in the opposition, The Botswana Movement for Democracy?

Boko: This is a refreshing spectacle because it underscores some of the issues that we have been talking about. We have this interesting development. We are now united in the realisation that the BDP is not good for this country. The chorus of the opposition to the monocracy has increased.

Mmegi: Have you engaged with those within the BMD, formally or informally?

Boko: Yes we have. We have spoken with people like Botsalo Ntuane, Samson Guma Moyo, Advocate Sidney Pilane and Motswaledi.

Even during his case we offered our opinion on the case. We indicated that the judiciary is part of that institutional structure.

Mmegi: I posed this question to Dumelang Saleshando a week ago. We see you standing for president of BNF, we know he is standing for the BCP presidency and you have just spoken of other younger politicians in the leadership of the new party. Is there a generational shift in the politics of this country or is it just a coincidence of sorts?

Boko: It does seem to me that we are seeing a reawakening of the younger generation. The destiny of this country lies in the younger generation. BCP is offering Saleshando, the BMD will offer someone who is young and hopefully the BNF will offer Boko. However, we are not just saying young people for the sake of age, we are talking about people who are young, dynamic and able  with a razor-sharp intellect. Part of the beauty of the younger generation is that we don't harbour hostilities from way back. We didn't throw chairs at each other. We will therefore be able to engage meaningfully. We are not going to insult each other. I hope that my team and I, and other young people in this country, will bring about a rebirth of the opposition to its former glory days and ultimately lead this country to a better future.