Let Gaborone go - BNF activists

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Monday November 8, 2010 00:00

 After Gaborone's resignation from the party last week, the BNF leadership said it respected his decision to resign from the party and unlike Gaborone, the leadership opted to let bygones be bygones.

But the rank and file are less diplomatic. BNF activits Wangu Gordon says that Gaborone was always the proverbial square peg in a round hole in the BNF and has done the right thing to join the BDP, a party he belongs to ideologically. Gordon, who says he would not loose sleep over Gaborone's departure, says South East North  MP has got neither respect for the rule of law nor the democratic process.

Before the BNF congress in July, Duma Boko's eligibility to stand for the highest office in the party was challenged but the court ruled in his favour. It is also Gordon's contention that Gaborone should respect the fact that the BNF congress overwhelmingly endorsed Boko. Gaborone, who had also indicated that he would contest the post, withdrew from the race citing threats of violence. Rakgwana Rakgwana, a BNF veteran, says that the relocation of the MP neither weakens the BNF nor strengthens the BDP. Rakgwana said that the former BNF vice president was not conversant with the party policies and culture.

According to Rakgwana, Boko is the right person to lead the BNF, because, unlike Gaborone whom he portrays as a position seeker, 'he was born in the BNF.' The BNF activist does not agree with Gaborone when he says he left the party because of internal instability because, in his view, there is more instability in the BDP.

He adds that, lack of cohesion in the BNF in the past was caused by people like Gaborone who were given positions of responsibility in the party when they were new and because they had no proper grasp of BNF policies. They were guided by personal interests, he further adds.

BNF councilor for Tonota west, Lemme Kgopa, says that in Gaborone, the BNF has lost a voter and nothing else. He says, instead of criticizing the BNF, Gaborone should be grateful that the party gave him refuge when he needed it after he had fallen out with the BDP.