BNF's Veterans League endorses Molatlhegi for President
- BNF under Boko has betrayed the struggle of the working class
Botswana National Front Veteran League (BNFVL) has resolved at their weekend meeting in Mahalapye to back Dr. Baatlhodi Bucs Molatlhegi for the position of party president which is currently held by Advocate Duma Gideon Boko.
Deputy Chairman, Baalakani Basiame told The Midweek Sun that unlike Boko, Bucs genuinely has the interests of the party and that of the country at heart.
He said this is primarily because, unlike Boko who has never attended BNF study group lessons, Baatlhodi is the product of BNF study groups.
'He can certainly be a much better leader than Boko both at the party and national levels,” Basiame said.
One of the issues that Basiame’s BNFVL spends sleepless nights over is that Boko does not believe in the ideology of the BNF.
“He has publicly dismissed the BNF ideology. Instead, Boko believes in feudalism and capitalism. The BNF leader has instead embraced former president, Dr. Ian Khama who is a dyed in the wool adherent of both tribalism and feudalism,” protested Basiame, further reminding all and sundry that Khama is a sworn enemy of the working class.
“Khama’s regime was a nightmare for the workers when he was the president of Botswana. He was and remains an enemy of the workers, while the BNF is pro-workers.
“Hence, our position is that the BNF under Boko has betrayed the struggle of the working class by embracing and associating with the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF),” Basiame charged.
The BPF is a splinter party formed in 2019 by disgruntled BDP members opposed to President Dr. Masisi’s rule. Because the BPF has a by-election partnership with the UDC, the BNFVL has lost confidence in the BNF/UDC leadership, Basiame said.
He added that the Khama regime, which formed DIS, became notorious and was actively hostile to the workers’ ideology. It was during the Khama government that Botswana witnessed the biggest and longest workers’ strike in the country when the workers put down their tools in 2011.
The BNFVL is also worried about the state of the BNF in general particularly with respect to the party having no structures throughout the country.
Basiame lamented that although the country is endowed with vast resources and a small population, the people remain disempowered while foreign investors hire them as cheap labour in their own country.