UDC urged to use public demonstrations

Botswana National Front (BNF) veteran activist, Dr Elmon Tafa has said that the time has arrived for Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) to engage in more demonstrations to express in concern about the current government.

Dr Tafa said he UDC should minimise using political rallies to air its concerns. He said UDC and Botswana Congress Party (BCP) should instead emulate opposition parties in other countries and take their protests to the streets.

Tafa who was addressing a political rally in Gabane on Sunday stated that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has undermined Batswana for too long and it is now time for the opposition together with Batswana to engage in mass demonstrations against the current regime.

Regarding privatisation, Dr Tafa said the private sector should not be given first priority. "Public services like water, telecommunications and electricity should not be given to the private sector. Such services should be given to Public Services Cooperatives. That will not be something new; it is being practised in other countries. Public Service Cooperatives will be run by the public and they would not be much interested in making profit. The private sector is all about making profit. People's lives can be improved by cooperatives and if government is tired or cannot cope with providing such cooperatives it has to offload to these cooperatives."