Civil servants need BDP card for promotion?

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday June 25, 2010 00:00

In fact there is talk that in order to be a top civil servant, you must have a BDP membership card.  There are also some civil service posts which are considered political appointments.

One government employee said he could not be considered for an appointment to become a deputy permanent secretary because he was believed to be an opposition member.

In the past there have been civil servants who were associated with the BDP but no action was taken against them. There have been a number of cases when an officer has resigned from the civil service only to contest BDP primary elections immediately.  Most BDP top officials including Cabinet ministers used to be civil servants. 

Some years back, the MP for Francistown West, Tshelang Masisi protested that the then Francistown District Commissioner, Slyvia Muzila was dabbling in politics. Masisi said Muzila was using her position as a district commissioner to launch her campaign against him in the BDP primaries.

He said Muzila's activities were all targeting his constituency because she wanted to contest the primary elections against him. Muzila denied Masisi's claims and no action was taken against her. But when she left the civil service, she went straight for Masisi's constituency.

Masisi defeated her in the 2008 primary elections. One would wonder whether Muzila only started her campaign after she left the government office.  When the current BDP secretary general, Thato Kwerepe was the headmaster of Naledi Secondary School, it was an open secret that he was planning to contest the primaries for Ngami constituency in 2008.  This meant that he was associating with the BDP even though he was a civil servant. 

Lately the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Lewis Malikongwa has been linked with the Tonota North constituency following the death of the area MP, Baledzi  Gaolathe.  It has been reported that Malikongwa is one of the candidates who is intending to contest the BDP primary elections.  One of the local newspapers claimed that he has already addressed councillors from the constituency to make his intentions clear. However, Mmegi could get hold of Malikongwa after calling his office on numerous occasions. 

Opposition parties have also expressed concern that some civil servants have come to be associated with the BDP. The publicity secretary of the Botswana National Front (BNF), accused the government of applying double standards.

He said no action is taken against civil servants who are associated with the BDP.  To him, those who are associated with the BDP are treated with kid gloves. Mohwasa said even President Ian Khama resigned from the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) today and joined politics the following day.  He wondered whether Khama had not always been a BDP member even when he was at the barracks.

Mohwasa said the civil service and parastatals have been politicised. He said it was BDP activists who are appointed to top positions. 

The BNF official said the BDP also applies the unfair treatment even in the party itself.  He said the BDP members are not treated equally.  He added that action is always taken against those who are not close to the party leadership. 

He said this is why some disgruntled BDP members have left the party to form the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD).The spokesman for the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dumelang Saleshando also echoed similar sentiments.  His party is of the view that the civil service should be apolitical.  'We don't want a partisan civil service,' he said. But Saleshando said what matters to President Khama is loyalty.  He said the civil servants who are loyal to Khama would be treated differently. 

But he said once the civil servants become politicians, professionalism would be compromised.  Saleshando said Malikongwa has indicated that he is not going to contest the Tonota North primaries.  'But I would not be surprised if he contests,' he said.Saleshando has not doubt that any civil servant associated with opposition parties would be dismissed.