BDP in distressed excursion to Maun

At best, the BDP head honchos need to apply top skills to calm the nerves within a distressed party as the first stair to recovery of lost fortunes. Some of former president Mokgweetsi Masisi’s close confidantes abandoned him and superimposed liability on the party president, reproving him of a botch to properly steer the red machine (BDP) to victory, robbing the former president of his second term. Even when the BDP leadership is facing a mammoth task of rejuvenating the collapsed party that had ruled Botswana for the past 58 years, they unfortunately still can afford the luxury of removing their eyes from the proverbial ball and instead play the man.

Lately, hubbub has found permanent residence in the former ruling party as party diehards continue to hit at each other’s throats in their efforts to gain control of the besieged party. It is apparent that the BDP is a party nearly on its political deathbed and cannot afford to deal with further polarisation. Organising and executing one’s most important priorities is a key component to quick recovery. Therefore, the BDP needs to tread carefully as it may find itself reaping negative results if they can maintain their seemingly unrelenting internal squabbles. The BDP as a party is proving to be so porous that almost every issue discussed within closed WhatsApp groups find itself into the social media with operatives speaking ill about each other. Sometimes issues are widely spread with all sort of distortions to harm others. Lately, the social media has been awash with allegations that former president Masisi has attacked his former Cabinet colleague and party diehard, Beauty Manake allegedly labelling her a ‘drunkard’. This is purported to have occurred at a closed BOMASE regional meeting recently.

Sensing the injury done by a recent Facebook post against Manake, the BDP secretary-general Ngaka Ngaka, would immediately issue a party statement. The BDP seems to be perturbed by a series of what it terms ‘disinformation and misinformation’. “Given the recent spread of misinformation, we must set the record straight, which is that at no point during this meeting (BOMASE regional meeting) did Masisi attack any member of the BDP. The claim that Masisi singled out and attacked a particular minister is not only false but raises serious concerns about deliberate spread of untruths,” reads Ngaka’s statement Concerns are that, the BDP has trouble in-house, which it has to dispense with as it prepares for its impending crucial elective congress in May, billed for the tourism town of Maun. Worriedly, there seem to be a sustained social media ‘ war’ of the BDP operatives tearing each other apart, which by all intents and purposes is a silent spoiler in deliberate efforts to reconstruct a party that was reduced to a shadow of itself by the main winner Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), and others, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).

The BDP has a tendency of resting on its laurels instead of striking the iron whilst it is still hot. Under Masisi, the BDP would just choose to sit on party problems for a long time instead of expediting its responses to needy situations. Sample this, post 2019 General Election after losing three Serowe constituencies to a new kid on the block, the BPF, the party chose to ‘ barricade’ itself from Serowe for a long time and only to show face towards the 2024 polls and only to get a thorough beating at the polls. The BDP is also taking too long to deal with the wounds of the 2024 polls and instead party diehards have been taking turns to disparage the party leadership with some crucial members of the party leadership dumping the BDP when they were needed the most. Equally, when former president Ian Khama warned the BDP under Masisi that it was set to lose the General Election, the story sounded unbelievable that some even wanted Khama thoroughly examined.

The thinking then in the BDP was that there was no alternative party that would oust the BDP anytime soon or at least until Masisi has served his elusive second term. This attitude helped Khama join hands with like-minded political outfits like the marauding UDC to preach similar political gospel of changing government until they finally made it. To some extent, the campaigns of change of government helped Batswana to realise that there was nothing wrong with changing a government as they voted for both the UDC and the BCP and the BPF in large numbers. It was this kind of thinking that misled the entire party (BDP) not to even take its systems seriously. Masisi, the former BDP chairperson, Slumber Tsogwane, former secretary-general, Kavis Kario, party spokesperson, Kagelelo Kentse, could not agree that delaying the conduct of party primary elections might disadvantage the party going forward. Worse, the party refused to hear out petitions of those who were aggrieved by the results of the primaries leaving the party at war with itself. In the end, the BDP learned the hard way. Now, whilst the party argues that it has a stronger popular vote, unfortunately, there is no prize for such an achievement in First Past The Vote as the winner takes it all.

The Maun elective congress will almost be a do-or-die for the BDP because should they fail to bring order to the party, they should be prepared for the worst. It is common that in the opposition ranks, cadres sometimes fail to agree on crucial issues to the extent of breaking up from the party. There are lessons from the Botswana National Front (BNF), which in 1998 experienced a major split that birthed the BCP. Arguments that could not be easily resolved resulted in bitter infighting that saw a major split of the then main opposition. The BCP also would later ahead of the 2024 polls quietly bolt out of the coalition for Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) before it won the historic polls. The now struggling Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) fresh from its botched Bobonong elective congress experienced a spilt that birthed the Alliance for Progressives (AP). These are the realities of the opposition struggles that the BDP will have to contend with. The BDP as a minority party in Parliament with only four legislators is currently behaving like a party that has nothing to lose. Worse, after losing the polls some of its benefactors from the general business community abandoned the former ruling party. Even one of its longest serving treasurer-general, Satar Dada, a respected motor magnate, called its quit with all the financial assistance that he doled out to the former ruling party.

The BDP has also lost the strength of legislators and councillors who paid subscriptions to the party in their numbers. BDP secretary-general Ngaka is upbeat that ahead of the Maun congress, the BDP is on point. He highlighted that preparations for their crucial meet are going on well across the party regions. He stressed that reconstruction and rebuilding are key as they work around the clock to return the BDP to its winning ways. He concedes that as people continue to campaign, there are those who support them who also do talk their minds. For those who post untoward social media posts, Ngaka was quick to point out that it is in the best interest of the party to ensure that they correct misleading information. “As a party, we really stand for peace as we need each other in the process of rebuilding the BDP. We encourage all the members to take their positions and defend the party at all costs,” he said. He was also upbeat that in unity, the BDP will return to power in the next polls.

Meanwhile, the University of Botswana retired commentator and public policy analyst, Adam Mfundisi, picked three things the BDP needs to do to re-emerge with some semblances of integrity. After being relegated to the political wilderness, Mfundisi said the BDP must find creative and innovative ways to recalibrate itself to stay relevant. He felt it should undergo soul searching, reflection and recalibration to emerge out of the political wilderness. Amongst others he says the BDP has to do critical examination of the loss and learning from mistakes. The BDP was also challenged to undertake an autopsy to study, amongst others, the demographics and patterns of voting behaviour of the electorate. The party should learn and adapt to the political realities of modern Botswana. Mfundisi insists that the BDP should shed off any semblance of the old CAVA BDP regime, including not voting anyone who was associated with the Masisi corrupt administration. “The BDP supporters are still in disbelief, frustrated, bewildered, and disappointed by the dismal performance in the last elections. They have to elect a class of leaders who have integrity to sort out the wreckage of the UDC victory. These leaders should be strategic in their approach to steering the party back to relevance and possibly back to power,” the public policy expert says.

He added that the leadership contest is an opportunity for the BDP to renew itself and reinvigorate to book a place at the centre of conversation in Botswana politics. “The party should recruit charismatic leaders who are capable of inspiring and building bridges to reconnect with the broader base of the BDP,” he added. Finally, he strongly emphasised a need to rebrand the party - revisiting and reframing core values of the BDP including democratic principles. “Inner-party democracy, inclusivity, participation, unity and development have been cornerstones of the BDP. The party must regroup and adapt to the current realities in order to build trust amongst the voting population in Botswana,” he pointed out.