FRANCISTOWN: The just-ended elective congress of Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) Women's Wing has set the tone for the party congress that is slated for Maun next month, the BDP has said.(The process) "started with the elective congress for the BDP National Youth Executive Committee (NYEC) in Sefhare last year", the Acting Executive Secretary of the BDP, Lee Lesetedi, told Mmegi yesterday. "The Women's Wing did the same thing last weekend (by) holding a peaceful elective congress."Lesetedi observed that in the past, as with men, some BDP women were associated with the party factions that had since been disbanded. "We applaud the Women's Wing for a job well done and encourage those vying for the main party positions to go to Maun with the same spirit that prevailed before and at Kang," encouraged Lesetedi.He said if there were elements within the BDP that were still fanning the fires of factionalism, they should emulate the example of the Women's Wing congress that took place in Kang.
He attributed the incident-free congress to what BDP insiders call the cooling off period for compromise that the party used to select its leadership without going through elections. "The period of compromise has really helped the party faithful as there are no more fights in elections to party positions," Lesetedi said. "Losers simply accept defeat, which is the way to go." He is confident that the road to Maun will be smooth because the leadership of the party has taken the responsibility to ensure an incident-free elective congress. Because BDP's Women's Wing biennial elective congresses are held just before the party's main congresses, they are regarded as a hint of what lies ahead. The BDP Women's Wing went to Kang last weekend with three lobby groups vying for control of the party's most powerful organ by numbers.However, unlike in the past, this did not result in a problematic congress. As in wider demographics in Botswana, BDP women are numerically superior to men.
