As one of my erudite friends correctly pointed out; at stake is a nation clamouring for a strong opposition because as he explained, already precursors of fatigue are gradually but surely beginning to crop up in the BDP's more than four decades of uninterrupted rule.
We await with unbated breath to see whether the envisaged BNF congress will go as planned. It is important that the congress takes place and a democratic space created for membership to elect a leader of their choice. Admittedly, this piece is an attempt to provide a somewhat needed debate about whether Comrade Duma might be just what BNF needs to redefine its much tainted organisational character almost driven into a quagmire of irrelevance by the current leadership or he is just another side of the same coin. At the height of events leading to the famous 2001 BNF elective Congress in Kanye, one of the ideas that became widely accepted then was that Moupo was a natural successor to Dr Koma, and was even paraded more like a God given gift of the post Koma era by his close friends. I was at my teen age and a University student then, together with comrades Gabriel Kanjabanga (a respected lawyer), Phillip Khwae, (now MP for Kgalagadi North), David Mathangwane (now a teacher) and a lot of others who are now Government employees formed part of the 2001 BNF youth league which made a lot of noise to popularise the coming messiah known for his fine intellect and ability to solely and defiantly take Dr Koma to task on issues he deemed encompassing. On the other hand people's feelings were scandalously hardened not to accept Moupo as the heir to the throne because he was not Dr Koma's favourite. Important information was leaked to the chosen few. At the end people did not understand the crime Moupo had committed and they chose through the power of the ballot to face the challenges ahead, with him as their leader.
