Kanjabanga speaks

| Friday May 14, 2010 00:00

 

Mmegi: Do you go to church?

Kanjabanga: No. My mother and father raised us to be independent to make our choices and did not force us to go to church. But my mother encouraged us to engage in extra-curricular activities like sports and boy scouts. I then played football and joined the scout movement.

Mmegi: Do you have children?

Kanjabanga: Yes, an 18 month old daughter.

Mmegi: Are you married?

Kanjabanga: No, but I have a girlfriend.

Mmegi: So you are not interested in tying the knot?

Kanjabanga: At the moment I don't want to get married. Over the years I have been involved in politics, a culture that turned me into a loner, especially that I spend most of the time reading. When you spend your time reading, communicating with books, it becomes difficult to stay married. I feel marriage will interfere with those freedoms.Every day, every week and weekends I am reading newspapers and books.

Mmegi: What are some of your best reads?

Kanjabanga: I read African Writers Series authors, but I also like reading classical reads by Karl Marx, Lenin,Trotsky and Kenneth Koma's Pamphlet Number One and Black Education on Africa.

Mmegi: So you are a Marxist?

Kanjabanga: Yes, I believe in the ideas of Karl Marx.

Mmegi: Some people are saying Marxism is an irrelevant relic of the past that has no answers to contemporary problems. What is your take on this?

Kanjabanga: Who provides solutions to today's problems? As long as capitalism is exists, Marxism, which is a critique of capitalism, will always be relevant. They amaze me because they say Karl Marx is an old dead irrelevant philosopher yet they continue quoting the likes of Adam Smith to offer solutions to present day challenges yet the man is long dead. I am of the view that every serious government that wants to develop its own people should study and find out why his ideas are different from capitalism which they believe is best for the upliftment of people, at least to reform capitalism.

Mmegi: So you don't believe in God?

Kanjabanga: I don't believe in God.

Mmegi: Does this have to do with your political convictions which are atheist?

Kanjabanga: I have read scientific materialistic theory in society such that I find the belief in God to be a difficult thing.

Mmegi: What then in your view is religion?

Kanjabanga: It's a form of idea to approach matters of life.

Mmegi: What is your greatest achievement?

Kanjabanga: When I was a youngster, I loved soccer a lot. I had a team in my neighbourhood in Palapye and we did not have a soccer ball. We used to buy those sold at Pep Stores, but they were made of plastic and would easily be pricked by bushes during a game. So one time I decided to go and harvest Phane, which is abundant in my village. I came back with a bucket full and sold it. I used the money to buy a proper long lasting soccer ball, made of leather. It was a great achievement because through that I was able to bring the team together. I then developed a habit of selling sour porridge from my parents' cattle post and used the money to buy the team Pop Ice and sweets especially during important occasions like Independence celebrations.

Mmegi: When did you become interested in the BNF?

Kanjabanga: It was through my brother who was a BNF activist. As a primary school kid I used to hang with them as they went around in James Olesitse's vehicle announcing an upcoming rally. One time I raised a hand and asked a question. My friends who thought I was going to say something stupid ran away when I was given the platform to pose my question.

Mmegi: What drives your involvement in leftist politics?

Kanjabanga: Leftist politics is based on one's ability and deep-seated passion to bring change to the lives of the suffering people, the masses, unemployed, and peasants and underpaid workers. That is what drives my involvement in these politics. To me it is a sacrifice. I am saying it's not fair and proper that members of society should go hungry, without accommodation and others. It's politics that is concerned with improving people's lives.Most leftists are inspired by love for fellow human beings. There are other ideas, like capitalism that I could have joined and lived a better life. I could have joined the BDP and become a bootlicker. With my thinking and convictions, it's just not possible.

Mmegi: How would you describe yourself?

Kanjabanga: I am a reserved, unassuming, caring and respectful guy. But I can be vocal and go to extremes on issues I feel strongly about.

Mmegi: What can you say about the BNF and its relationship with its founding father Kenneth Koma?

Kanjabanga: You know last year I was so stressed when some people in the BNF resisted my candidacy in Gaborone North and one night I decided to just give up the fight, but the next morning when I woke up thinking about Koma, his sacrifices to build politics in Botswana and the BNF and realised that my tribulations compared to what he went through, amounted to naught. So thinking of him, helped energise my involvement in the party. The BDP government does not acknowledge Koma yet he contributed a lot to this country's development. It's sad that no school, road or even a mere street is named after him. He is a giant that I compare to Nelson Mandela and Kwame Nkurumah. He built a mass organisation like the BNF into a big party. If you were to marry, you were bound to divorce. It happened to him and Mandela. The intelligence and other security organs used to scrutinise and follow him. At one time he had false criminal charges brought against him on allegations that he stole funds belonging to Kgobati, a construction company. The BDP says it has been able to run the country peacefully without war, but they forget it was also KK (Koma) who ensured there was peace. Other leaders in Africa used armed struggles to depose corrupt regimes.

Mmegi: Can you point to one example that could have led to violent confrontation with the government?

Kanjabanga: It started in 1987 towards the 1989 elections when the BNF complained about the electoral process.We were saying we need to have an IEC. Back then it was the Office of the President which ran elections.KK said the voting age should be reduced and that citizens residing outside Botswana should be allowed to vote by proxy. In 1989, president Masire said he agreed with us and that after the elections he would introduce the changes, but by the following general elections in 1994, they had not introduced the electoral reforms. Then within the BNF there was a debate as to whether to boycott or go with the elections. If the BNF didn't partake in the elections and the BDP went to parliament alone, we would have had to resort to extra-electoral means like an armed struggle. KK said let's go to the elections to avoid bloodshed and a resolution was taken that we go to the polls.

Mmegi: So did this not cause some schism in the party?

Kanjabanga: You could say there was one. Actually, that is how PUSO came into being. Nehemiah Modubule and other radicals felt we were treating the BDP government with kid gloves. They formed PUSO.

Mmegi: The BNF has always been portrayed as a front but it doesn't strike one as being such (a front). Is it really a front?

Kanjabanga: First you should know that the idea of a front is one that seeks to operate within a class based society, how to address a society characterised by different classes; the poor, downtrodden and others. It's an idea emanating from the Vietnamese and Chinese models developed by Ho Chi Min and Mao Tse Tung to deal with feudalist challenges posed by their societies. All the struggling groups operating under the same organisation, a mass organisation. What was supposed to happen in the BNF, which KK and others failed to do, was to transform the BNF from being a loose association of individuals to a multi-organisational united front; a political entity based on different organisations. Communists are supposed to group themselves and maybe join the BNF as an organised entity. The labour movement and other interest groups could do the same within the BNF. Look at the UDF (United Democratic Front), and the ANC in South Africa, which also is a front made up of SACP, COSATU and other interest groups. This shows it's a working model. But we have failed in turning the party into a real front.

Mmegi: Why has the BNF failed to be the front that it wants to be?

Kanjabanga: Incessant leadership fights and the failure of the BNF to emphasise the importance of political education and coming up with a proper cadre policy. It's newsletter 'Puophaa' failed to circulate regularly to critic the BDP effectively. 

Mmegi: What's the solution to this leadership challenge?

Kanjabanga: Debates. We fail to deal with these problems in an informed way. They should be debate so we reach a consensus. In the BNF everybody can be a BNF leader. I would not be surprised if Gomolemo Motswaledi could come and become a BNF president. Ke ko ga mmapereko (there is no order).

Mmegi: Can you elucidate that point?

Kanjabanga: In a political organisation leaders must emerge through the structures of the organisation. They are groomed by their organisation. If you look at credentials of ANC people, most of them have a history of working for the party. They know the culture and traditions of their party. Their every day involvement in the party shows loyalty. In 1989, Leach Tlhomelang, Wellie Seboni and a councillor called Knox Kowa were disgruntled with the BDP and came to the BNF and they were given positions of power. That was, and is still wrong. It creates a problem with ideological direction and organisational structure. Its like when you are ploughing and bring in an inexperienced ox to pull the plough alongside experienced ones. You are throwing it in the deep end. So by giving the newcomers to lead the party you create problems, because they lack the ideological grasp and loyalty to the party so they use their personal interest to define the movement, hence it loses direction. In the process conflicts based on personality differences erupt and these disloyal newcomers leave the movement.

Mmegi: Is this not just a rejection by the contemporary Botswana society of which the BNF exists within, to these ideals which it sees as obsolete and irrelevant in present times?

Kanjabanga: It's true to an extent. Due to lack of political education. There is also no political direction in the BNF leadership. It's just a group of loose personal interests trying to address matters of the BNF.

Mmegi: Don't you think it also has to do with the fact that Batswana are generally not a reading society?

Kanjabanga: Maybe, but guys like me and KK used to read quite a lot. How did we do it in the past when the conditions were not so good? I mean now there are advanced libraries and the internet to help facilitate reading.

Mmegi: There has been concern that the youth is generally materialistic and has no interest in politics. What solution will you offer?

Kanjabanga: Yeah, we have completely lost the youth in the party. As a BNF youth league president I tried to build the youth movement. The stuff Julius Malema of the ANCYL is doing is what you expect other youth to be doing to excite other youth into joining us. Controversy attracts youth. A guy who is militant and does extreme stuff, that's what the BNFYL needs. I tried that but was lambasted by the party leadership. They encouraged people to attack me. There is no vibrant youth activity that the youth is engaged in. No youth league should be apologetic.

Mmegi: Duma Boko, one of the candidates you are standing against is a youthful leader. What can you say about him?

Kanjabanga: What has he done to qualify to be the principal of the BNF? The man is new. I have just heard in the paper that because he is cute and has great speech skills he can lead BNF. But is the BNF all about looks and oratory?

Mmegi: But there seems to be a general shift inside the BNF from an ideological perspective, something which threatens the very existence of the party. What would you do about this once in power?

Kanjabanga: We have to stop the sycophancy that is prevalent in the BNF. We have to deal with political issues on principle.

Mmegi: You come across as a Marxist trying to fight a one-man war against capitalism which is 'polluting' the BNF. Do you think you will win this ideological war?

Kanjabanga: The BNF is not Marxist. It's a front of sorts. We want to have a strong leaning to the socialist ideas but at the same time, no matter what critics of Marxism say, as long as capitalism exists Marxism, should be there to critic it. Those in BNF who want to take the socialist route should simplify matters and be practical enough to bring this change. But unfortunately the BNF is just about elections-central committee elections and General elections. Political organization should be more than that. It should help in charity work and other social issues.

Mmegi: From the look of things, capitalists within the movement are winning the war inside BNF. What will you do once in power?

Kanjabanga: Debates would be the right solution, but then there are no debates anymore in BNF.

Mmegi: Sometime last year the BNF leadership was accused of applying BDP Khama's methods of punishment to dissenting voices. What is your take on that?

Kanjabanga: It shows that there is lack of political direction. We are supposed to be a political party that encourages debate where members know they will not be punished for their dissenting voices.

Mmegi: What will you do with the fired members of the temporary Platform once you are president?

Kanjabanga: To me it's a small issue. You can even get them back by just calling them. But the problems of the organizations remain, the mindset of the general members also remain. A lot of work needs to be done to rebuild the party. The party has been at war with itself; there is need for inner party unity. The major source of unity is the absence of political education.

Mmegi: How will you develop the party structures?

Kanjabanga: We need to have professional cadres to do party work, especially organising. They will also have a responsibility to build structures from cell level up to national level.

Mmegi: But how will you pay them after talk that the party kitty is lean?

Kanjabanga: With the monthly contributions by our MPs and councillors I think we can pay them.  We can also intensify ways of raising funds.

Mmegi: Are you ready to work with other opposition parties, given the fact that BCP might be led by Dumelang Saleshando, your peer during your UB student days whilst the new party BMD is also likely to be led by someone in your generation say Ntuane or Motswaledi?

Kanjabanga: Yeah it's true I interacted and worked with them whilst a secretary general of the UB SRC. I addressed a meeting that resolved to storm parliament during the Segametsi strike. Even Ntuane, who belonged to BDP's GS-26 joined. It was at a time when the BDP youth were pushing for Masire to step down from power. I will work with them, but first like I said before, I need to rebuild the party. I will be comfortable after ensuring that the party is on a sound political ground to engage with others in a cooperation endeavour, otherwise they (other parties) will want to take advantage of us and dictate unfavourable terms to us.

Mmegi: So this time you believed in a violent solution, yet you supported Koma's stand against the radicals who wanted the BNF to boycott elections?

Kanjabanga: I didn't storm the Parliament. The whole student body across the country was angry and just people all over. So when we marched to Parliament, others like the unemployed joined us in the protest and when we got there things went out of control. We called it 'the storming of the Bastille' after that historic French protest.  Mmegi: What is your view of the emerging BMD?

Kanjabanga: Noga e tsala nogana, e seng potsane - A snake gives birth to a young snake not a goat. They are not fighting an ideological war with the BDP, but rather a person, Khama. So I don't expect them to be different from the BDP. I don't expect them to say they are against the unbridled market economy driven by the BDP. They will just be more liberal than Khama, but they are nostalgic of the BDP of Mogae and Masire. You will understand that the BNF has always opposed all BDP leaders.

Mmegi: How do you propose to work with the labour movement as a constituency?

Kanjabanga: They used to be part of BNF, but we have lost them. Due to our internal problems we abandoned representing them, such that even on May Day you will find reactionary parties like BDP addressing the workers.What is your view of Botswana labour laws?

Kanjabanga: They need to be changed to allow workers absolute rights to strike. The BDP government will say the law allows them to strike, but the law is structured such that it does not allow workers to strike. Remember the Debswana 461 case? The workers' right to strike is a component of any democracy. There are a lot of issues.

Employers take advantage of the fact that the laws don't protect employees; hence the employers treat them with disdain. But the labour movement should unite and identify political allies to assist them. At the moment I think litigating against these lopsided laws is a futile exercise. Litigation as a form of struggle is hopeless now because the laws are against them. They need to get back to strike as their key to bargain where negotiations fail.

Mmegi: You have imbibed a lot of political theory and other illuminating ideas. How do you unpack this complex stuff and communicate it down to the ordinary masses that the front clamours to represent?

Kanjabanga: It's a difficult challenge. Sometimes you need people who understand you. You need to talk about their challenges; poverty, poor health, unemployment and other things that make up their lives.