Anxiety in BDP ranks in Francistown

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Wednesday June 9, 2010 00:00

 

When Wynter Mmolotsi, the Member of Parliament for Francistown South, formerly told the nation at a press conference in Francistown recently about his expulsion from the BDP and his membership of the BMD, he meant to demonstrate, by parading whole committees resigning from the BDP, that his erstwhile party, is, at best, a party in terminal decline, or, at worst, a collapsing party not worthy of running the government any more.

Two days later, the BDP secretary general, Thato Kwerepe and executive secretary, Comma Serema, with guns blazing, told a press conference that the absence from the BDP of Mmolotsi and the others, who have formed the new party, will not affect the performance of the BDP in the next elections. As far as they are concerned, the BDP, unlike the Botswana Peoples Party and the Botswana National Front who have suffered splits that they are yet to recover from, is too big to be affected by the split. This is despite the fact that the BMD was formed by members of the Barata-Phati, the then BDP faction which, if the central committee results at the BDP congress in Kanye last year are anything to go by, was the more popular of the two factions. Barata-Phati won almost all the central committee positions at the congress.

A 67 year-old woman, who resides in the Francistown South Constituency and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of exposing her children to possible victimisation because they are civil servants, is worried that the party she has loved and served so much over the years, is going through such a difficult time. 'I have been a BDP member since 1966. I feel so heart-broken because what is happening will definitely weaken the party. Most of the people at the forefront of the BMD are young and will inevitably attract all the youth to their party. Very soon, the BDP will be a party of elders who no longer have sufficient energy to defend it. The fact that Mmolotsi won both the central committee elections and the general elections means that he is popular among the people and should not have been expelled like that,' she said. The fact that members of important BDP families are associated with the BMD exacerbates her anxiety about the future of the BDP.

A 22 year-old lady, introducing herself only as Toeler, said that although she is BDP, she voted for the candidate based on the confidence she had in him. She feels the leadership is taking the voters for granted by not consulting them on the fate of the Member of Parliament. 

Vini Bagwisanyi, of Francistown South and member of the BDP for over 20 years is annoyed that there was no consultation with the BDP membership in the constituency before the decision to expel Mmolotsi was reached by the party leadership. 'The leadership has got no respect for the general membership. Molotsi has served us well and we have got no reason to abandon him. By expelling him from the party, the BDP has effectively expelled us the voters,' he said adding that   he and his family had decided to go with their Member of Parliament.

Thembani Mpinda and her friend Chendzimu Kthaba say the split will no doubt affect the BDP. Ordinarily, they would support the call by the BDP that those who have left the BDP should leave their seats but are quick to point out that the BDP is being dishonest because when opposition parties raised the same concern in the past when their elected members defected to the BDP with their seats, the BDP defended the status quo. Takwana Ndubo of the Botswana Peoples Party feels that the BDP is well entrenched having been in power for a long time and cannot be affected by the split. She avers that the BDP will adjust and survive.

Enock Malanga, a BDP member in the Francistown South Constituency sees the BMD as a possible threat to the BDP provided BMD has a political agenda. 'If the formation of this party was the result of something else other than mere anger, they might cause irreparable damage to the BDP. They have to offer something in terms of policies that are decidedly different and better than what the BDP has offered over the years,' he said. His feels that it is wrong and simplistic for the BDP leadership to say that the dissenters are power hungry. His view is that there might have been real pertinent issues that needed to be addressed objectively. The youth, who are the majority, might align themselves with the new party perceiving it to be more progressive because it is led by young and educated people.