BMD's student organ quits UB opposition coalition

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday February 23, 2011 00:00

The organs have been working on a strategy to fight next month's UB Student Representative Council (SRC) elections as a bloc.

With the BSMD out of the race, it means only the Mass-BNF, an organ of the Botswana National Front, and the University of Botswana Congress for Democracy (UBCD-BCP) will contest the upcoming SRC elections as a united force because the BSMD, just like the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)'s GS26, will contest as individual entities. 

Mass-BNF chairman Thato Lesetedi told Mmegi in Gaborone yesterday that each party would retain its identity and ideology. The policies of these two student movements have been harmonised in order to produce a student-oriented manifesto, he said.

'This development comes at a critical time when our mother parties are also in co-operation talks. The opposition, both within and outside UB, cannot continue splitting votes whilst they are speaking the same language.

Our continued disintegration can only strengthen the outdated and politically irrelevant BDP. Opposition cooperation is the only remedy to end the prolonged and undeserved stay in power of the BDP,' he said.

He said it was unfortunate that BSMD had decided to pull out from the negotiations for petty and personal reasons.

'They wanted to dictate to us whom we should field from our side and we said 'it's unacceptable' because we have not merged.  By pulling out of this national project, the BSMD have showed the nation that they are just another version of the cruel BDP.

We respect their decision, they have done so at their own peril, the political ancestors will punish them and Batswana will alienate and shun them at the polls,' he said. Contacted for comment, BSMD presidential candidate Rodrick Mogotsi said they quit the cooperation agenda because they were against the inclusion of some Mass-BNF candidates.

He said the two aspirants were ill-mannered, adding that at some stage one of them insulted the Minister of Education and Skills Development Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi in front of students during a meeting.

'They were not impressed and they walked out on him. We cannot work with such a person who has no respect for elders.

The other one, after losing the last SRC elections, wrote a memorandum insulting students for choosing a GS26 (BDP) candidate over him. As a leader you need to be calm and humble,' Mogotsi said.