BDP admits 58 years rule-burden cost them good judgement

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership has conceded that somewhere along the way, the burden of 58 years of state rule cost them the virtue of good judgment in several instances, against many Batswana.Mpho Balopi, the party president, was speaking at a highly charged meeting in Serowe where the party had gone to tender an apology and seek reconciliation with Kgosi Ian Khama IV of Gammangwato and his morafe.Morafe poured out their pains and frustrations that they suffered together with Kgosi Khama, a former president, at the hands of the BDP while it was still in power.The sour relations between the BDP government and Bagammangwato happened between 2018 and 2024 when former President Mokgwetsi Masisi led the party and government.Khama IV and his subjects have promised to revert to Balopi and his party on whether they accept the apology or reject it.Balopi said, “Actually, this reconciliatory and remorseful message is one that I have carried at every platform that I have stood on as President of BDP. we have come to express and reiterate ourhumanness and to demonstrate that we are teachable people who have learnt valuable and unforgettable lessons in recent years, particularly towards the end of our ruling party status. We come with humility, because we know that pride and aggression, or anything perceived to be such, have no good fruit.”He said in their view, politics should not serve to create bitter divisions between communities and governments. Politics, in a democracy like Botswana, should serve to unite communities, as well as to enable governments and communities to hold each other accountable in a mutually respectful manner, he said, adding that democracy, just like the Kgotla system, is nurtured by dialogue and the respect of one another.“Kgosi Khama IV and Morahe, we have come here not to invite you to join our political party. We have not come to chant the slogans of the BDP. But we have come so that between you and us there must be no more hostility and bitterness.Hostility and bitterness benefit nobody. They are particularly corrosive to one who bears them. They only serve to break the bonds that our forefathers forged when they built this Republic. We have come to say, please let bygones be bygones. We have come to set an example of maturity and the taking of responsibility.”According to the BDP leader, they are taking responsibility for their collective past misjudgments as a former ruling party.“In Gammangwato, we denied Morahe the right to determine their own preferred or chosen Kgosi while we were in state power. We, the former government, questioned the legitimacy of a widelyaccepted Kgosi of Gammangwato, Khama IV, and insisted on our own choice to preside over the affairs of Gammangwato.However, we try to look at it and we do not believe that such steps were justified. It appears that we allowed 58 years of ruling Botswana to turn into a poison that almost killed our conscience,” Balopi explained.“As the BDP delegation, it is our belief that we are all human beings before we are politicians. Indeed, we are politicians, but we are human beings before belonging to any political party, to any church, or to any man-made institution. We are Batswana before we can be labelled according to our different choices, our tastes, and our preferences,” Balopi told the meeting.He admitted being aware of his and their collective human weaknesses, as well as the fact that to err is human.“I have erred in the past, I may err today, and I will certainly err in the future,” he said. Balopi pointed out that one who never makes a mistake is one who never tries anything. Therefore, he said, the fear of making mistakes should not discourage anyone from acting.As the BDP leadership, they believe that when one has erred, the humane thing to do is to admit it and to attempt to make amends.

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BDP admits 58 years rule-burden cost them good judgement