BNF’s shifting Leadership, 58 years on

Kwele

Daniel Kwele was the BNF’s first president and took over the leadership of the party at a time when it was not easy to be in the opposition. He led the party when no one wanted to be the leader of an opposition party. His comrades and family described him as a visionary leader who even invested some of his family resources and time to take the BNF forward. He was an educationist who taught people around him to draw a line between politics and relationships. Kwele is also said to have been the leader of the BNF at a time when it was not attractive to be in the opposition, but he made sacrifices. Kwele later resigned to go into public service. He ended up joining the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and served as an Assistant Minister in Sir Ketumile Masire’s cabinet. In the 1980s, he quit the BDP to form the Botswana Progressive Union, an outfit which died a natural death with his passing. Kwele died on November 26, 1991 at the age of 63 and was buried in Francistown. In 2016 the BNF paid tribute to their first president by putting a wreath at Kwele’s resting place.