Moupo vacates the driver's seat

| Friday July 16, 2010 00:00

Mmegi: You first became the president of BNF at the Kanye congress of 2001. Why did you want to become president of BNF?

Moupo: The initiative did not come from me. It came from other party comrades and party elders who pursued me to become party president. Of course, we had a number of discussions and then I accepted to take the assignment.

When comrades express such confidence in you, you do not play hard to get. As a committed cadre of the party I took up the challenge.

You should remember that at the time the then BNF president, Kenneth Koma, who was a revered political figure in the party had indicated his personal preference to be succeeded by Comrade Peter Woto. No one dared to challenge Comrade Koma who many people thought was invincible in the party. I took up the challenge knowing that it was not going to be easy.

Mmegi: We now know that you went to Kanye and won. In fact, everyone on your ticket was elected into the BNF central committee. How did your lobby group beat people that were anointed by Kenneth Koma?

Moupo: We ran a cautious and clean campaign. We travelled all over the country presenting ourselves to BNF structures. I think the Koma supported 'Party-line Group' were complacent, possibly thinking that they will ride on Koma's shadow. To our credit, we ran a clean campaign, while the other group ran a very dirty campaign and I think this worked against them. Batswana, generally, ga ba rate matlhapa - they shun dirty words.

The other thing is that this congress took place not long after the BCP had broken away and people were still bearing the brunt of factionalism.

Mmegi: After being voted into office? What is it that you wanted to accomplish?

Moupo: Our platform was to kill factionalism in the party. The party had in 1998 suffered a huge setback when 11 parliamentarians broke away to form the BCP. We thought everyone had realised that factional strife does not pay.

Mmegi: Immediately after the Kanye congress there were protracted disputes over the election results, which eventually led to the expulsion of some members, and the New Democratic Front was formed. Your leadership was challenged on your first priority even before you could start. You failed your first test?

Moupo: It is unfair to say we failed this test. We did what was necessary as the leadership. When comrades disputed election results, we called them to several meetings to try and iron out our differences. At the time the BCP experience was still fresh in our minds but we tried everything possible to be accommodative but comrades wanted to treat the elected central committee as a faction. They even addressed public rallies as the Party-line. It was at that point that we realised that we had to take disciplinary procedures. It is unfortunate that we had to suspend and even expel some Comrades. Ideologically, interest groups are allowed to crystallise into tendencies but these can never be allowed to be destructive. Majority decisions ought to be binding on all committed cadres of the movement.

Mmegi: Internal strife seems to be the major undoing of the BNF. What proactive steps has your leadership taken to combat it?

Moupo: There is a mistaken belief that tendencies within the BNF have been muted. Out of the factional disputes that had occurred in the BNF in 2003 a special congress was convened where it was decided that viewpoints or tendencies were allowed in the BNF. The only thing we did was to come up with parameters under which these could be allowed to operate. Destabilisation from within is the most dangerous form of destabilisation.

Mmegi: You said when you came to office there were three major targets that you wanted to achieve. What were the other two?

Moupo: Our other platform was to modernise administration. Under the reign of Dr Kenneth Koma, so many things were done informally. Party meetings were held at his house. Party members could call him on anything if they had grievances while undermining lower structures such as the ward and the constituency committees.  We rationalised administration. Lines of communication were improved under my administration. We believe our laid down structures made it clear that people cannot access the president directly on any issue while undermining local structures. Comrade Koma was very modest and it appears he laboured under the belief that a leader should be accessed on anything any day otherwise o tla bo a bihela batho - he would be thought of as conceited.Our recruitment drive was also modernised. Despite the many challenges I think we did well on this score.

Mmegi: What was your third platform?

Moupo: Unity of opposition was one of the major things that we wanted to achieve.

Mmegi: How so? Opposition unity talks broke down and the BNF was accused of undermining the talks by trying to lord over other opposition parties!

Moupo: I know we have been accused of arrogance but there is a history to all these. Prior to the 2004 general elections, we initiated a discussion on opposition unity. We wanted all opposition parties to go into the elections as partners against the BDP. At the time the BCP did not take us seriously and that is why we eventually went into an election pact with the Botswana Peoples Party and the Botswana Alliance Movement.

Mmegi: That electoral pact was not a success, was it?

Moupo: The results did not reflect our collective effort. We only managed 12 seats and all these were from what were considered traditional BNF strongholds.

Mmegi: Some of your supporters said the pact was a drag on the BNF as you eventually lost ground in areas like Francistown and Maun. Would you agree that the pact set the BNF back as some say?

Moupo: Yes, to the extent that we lost ground in constituencies that you mentioned but it does not mean that the idea was a bad one. In my analysis I think there was no significant propagation of the pact message by all of us.There was no sufficient concentration of effort from pact members and that is why we did not perform as well as we should have.

Mmegi: Comparatively, the BCP and BAM electoral pact was relatively successful as the BCP and BAM gained some seats. Were they better organised than you?

Moupo: Yes, they learnt from our experience, but most importantly, unlike the BCP, which was hostile to our pact at the time when they came up with their pact we were more receptive and we did not campaign against them.

Mmegi: After the 2004 general election, there was another attempt to start another round of opposition talks which eventually broke down and you were accused of undermining those talks with your 'big brother attitude'.When looking back, don't you have regrets that maybe Botswana lost an opportunity?

Moupo: Yes, with the benefit of hindsight, one tends to think that maybe as the BNF we should have been patient and accommodative. You must understand though that as a party we did not want to do anything that could have sacrificed our constituency. 

Mmegi: What is your personal opinion on opposition unity?

Moupo: Opposition unity has always been necessary, but as I go around I hear a groundswell of people demanding it now more than ever. From my experience, I think the BNF leadership that will be elected over the President's Day holidays should be given the mandate to negotiate opposition unity without making any prescription on the model. The only caveat should be that the negotiators should not sell the soul of the party.

BNF members should be flexible and give negotiators a free mandate.

Mmegi: Even if negotiators decide to come up with a single party that will be called a different name other than the BNF?

Moupo: I am a disciplined member of the BNF. If I am defeated in an argument within the party I will accept the outcome but privately I will state that such a view will be a wrong premise. You cannot ignore traditions of other parties. I think all the parties do not exist by an accident. If we ignore these traditions we run the risk of disintegration. The BNF - even at its worst - has very rich traditions that cannot be ignored. I think it is important that at the outset, party negotiators should discuss the policies and programmes of the different parties and decide on the programmes that they want to implement once they assume power so they avoid the Kenyan experience.

Mmegi: The Botswana Movement for Democracy has shot up on the political scene. What do you make of them?

Moupo: There is very little you can say about them because they do not have programmes and policies as yet. To the extent that their emergence will slow down the arrogance of the BDP, they are welcome.

We derive pleasure from the fact that they are taking up the issues we have always talked about; issues such as constitutional reforms and civil liberties.

Mmegi: BMD are currently on a high momentum. Do you see them as a political threat to the BNF?

Moupo: We do not see them as a threat provided the BNF goes back to its traditions. BNF has an ideological orientation that is unparalleled. On the political spectrum, BMD pretty much occupies general ground with the BDP and maybe a little right to the BCP. The BNF has always been the left leaning party.

Mmegi: Other than the infighting in the BNF, are the politics of the BNF still relevant? It might possibly be the reason why the BNF seems to be waning?

Moupo: The BNF policies are still relevant. The recent global economic recession showed that the capitalist system is diseased.

Mmegi: When you leave the BNF presidency over the weekend, history will remember you as the president who increased the party parliamentary representation to 12 and shrunk the numbers to six. Do you accept the blame?

Moupo: I should not shoulder the blame. We went into the last general elections under abnormal circumstances.Remember the Mozambican experience in 1975 when the South African sponsored Renamo to cause insurrection and destroy social infrastructure in Mozambique.  The South African regime then turned around and pointed at the FRELIMO government as a failure while in actual fact the failures were engineered by the South African sponsored RENAMO.

Similarly, in the BNF we had comrades who called themselves 'Temporary Platform'. Comrades who even after they were defeated at the Molepolole congress, fought against the party and even coached other parties about how to attack the BNF.

Imagine passengers in a car who upon realising that the driver might not be driving properly, instead of helping him they shoot the tyres of the very car they are travelling in, under the illusion that once it overturns the car will kill the driver alone.

This is the BNF I led. It was abnormal and that is why I cannot take the blame. I might have made mistakes but all these did not justify the amount of vilification that the party and I were subjected to. I could have been criticised but the Temporary Platform embellished their case with lies.

When we went into the election our campaign was in total tatters.

Mmegi: If you were so repugnant to some people why didn't you just heed the call to resign and save the party?

Moupo: The BNF is not a liberal organisation. It is a mass organisation where the masses have a role in electing the leadership. It would have been total abdication for me to have just resigned because some individuals felt so.I think I made the right decision not to resign before the end of my term.

Mmegi: You have been accused of having made a series of blunders. Do you accept that you made some costly blunders?

Moupo: Yes, I did.

Mmegi: Which are they?

Moupo: The failure to respond to the State of the Nation address was a blunder I have already apologised for.

Mmegi: Being stranded in London?

Moupo: I refuse to accept that to go and ask for a salary advance against my salary is a blunder.

Mmegi: You never revealed the nature of the trip to London when you got stranded. What was it? Were you cheated or...?

Moupo: It was none of those things that were said. It was just a private trip and it just happened that Khama was in London and as the vice-president he approved it. There was nothing sinister as suggested by my detractors.

Mmegi: You have obviously taken some hard knocks and personal losses during your presidency. What were some of the losses you encountered?

Moupo: I do not want to sound as if I am making an excuse. I think the problems that I encountered at my law firm would not have been of this magnitude if I were around to supervise it on a daily basis. I lost friends and some friendships that had been built over decades.

The vilification were too painful mo go mohumagadi wa me. I hope you appreciate the sensitive nature of my divorce. It was very painful.

Mmegi: You are obviously leaving the BNF presidency a bitter and a frustrated man. Are you bitter?

Moupo: No, I am not bitter. Bitterness will only consume me. I have been humbled by the outpouring support of magnanimity from ordinary BNF supporters and other Batswana at the height of my problems.

You as the press have not been fair to me. My performance in Parliament was not as bad as you made it to be. I agree I did not perform to my full potential, but I am only human. How could I perform better when I was assailed from all fronts?

Mmegi: What lessons have you learnt?

Moupo: I was naive when I came into politics. I trusted too much. I have since realised that in politics there are no friends, just allies.

Mmegi: Tomorrow, if the BNF congress decides to bring back BNF members that were expelled and suspended during your reign. Will you take it hard?

Moupo: We are all imperfect. Even these comrades who were expelled deserve a second chance.