CHOICELESS CHOICE

The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Leadership Forum in Palapye on Saturday attracted an array of political formations including Botswana Labour Party (BLP), Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin (MELS) as well as disgruntled members of the Alliance for Progressives (AP) who delivered solidarity messages.The speeches were a cocktail of history, criticism, propaganda, humour and much more besides. In his presidential address, BCP’s Dumelang Saleshando reminded his audience that, just like in 1998 when the founders of BCP resigned en-masse from Botswana National Front (BNF) due to democracy deficit when hard-liners in the party insisted on certain people leading the party forever, the problem in the UDC today emanates from an insistence that the BNF is the undisputable natural leader of the coalition.According to him, the state of affairs has ensured that the coalition has not held an elective congress since its formation in 2014. “If you do not practice democracy internally, you cannot be trusted with democracy at the national level,” the BCP leader suggested.In his usual element, Saleshando drew a parallel between the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the UDC on the one hand, with the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah which merited obliteration because they were defined by legendary wickedness.In his view, just like Sodom and Gomora with regards to evil deeds, the BDP and UDC have got no regard for democratic principles. Instead, the two political entities are inclined to dictatorial tendencies.“Satan is still alive! He invites people to accept things they should not accept. People get promised jobs and positions and because they are desperate, they accept the offers. As for us in the BCP, we decided to not be part of a project which puts one in a position where they must choose between Sodom and Gomorrah.“We cannot replace something which is already rotten with something which is in the process of rotting. We cannot agree with those who ask us to try the UDC. This is a choiceless choice,” Saleshando said suggesting that, just as Sodom and Gomora are evil, the BDP and the UDC should be rejected in equal measure.“It is regrettable that as we leave Gomora, some of our people are looking back,” lamented a frustrated Saleshando in apparent reference to BCP MPs and Councillors who have decamped to the Umbrella. He described them as weak in their convictions, saying these are people who are not sure if they are going or coming. They have been promised a free ride to candidacy for the UDC without primary elections, he said. He also made it clear that, come 2024, “the BCP will not be contesting the elections under the UDC.BLP secretary general, Eitlhopha Mokeresete said: “Your Leadership Forum comes at a time when there are some consternations within the UDC – consternations that arise from serious contradictions on issues of governance and democratisation. On the other hand, it is the BNF leaders’ strong belief that BNF is the ‘natural leader’ of the UDC.”Mokeresete went on to appreciate “BCP’s unequivocal and unrelenting voice to democratise UDC and run it on consensus building, with mutual respect and understanding for other partners based on honest engagement.”According to the BLP leader, the founding members of BLP left the BNF due to its dictatorship which according to Mokeresete, manifested itself through the purging and expulsions of those espousing a contrary view.“So it is not a coincidence that we are into this conundrum together. The long and short of it is that, it demonstrates that we are not strange bedfellows Comrades. Our belief is that our commonality stems from sharing a set of universal values and virtues, fundamental beliefs, character and how the world order should be – call it democracy or whatever,” Mokeresete opined.He continued, “We should be worried and alarmed by leaders who embrace Stalinist tactics like the carrot and stick tactic and leaders who systematically are cultists. Strongmen politics shouldn’t have room in our political landscape and belongs to the past,” the BLP statement read.The statement hailed the BCP as a genuine partner in taking Botswana to a new economic level that can benefit all. Again in an apparent reference to the UDC and its leader, Duma Boko, the BLP suggested that, although the BDP has failed Batswana, the voter should not risk replacing it with a party system whose body-language reflects that of the current government.“Our people have never been in such a precarious situation as today’s. Botswana has proven to be just another African country and the shining example gimmick has, like morning dew, evaporated leaving us to look for new political thinkers to extrapolate and save our country.“This is a clarion call for the like-minded progressives to rise on their feet to be counted. Botswana deserves better. Having been led by a one party since independence in 1966, we cannot afford to bring in another makeshift party that has potential for instability because of lack of cohesion as is the case with UDC,” the BLP secretary general said.For his part, the secretary general of MELS, popularly called Mao Tse Tung in political circles, Ditshotlo Tawanana, lauded the BCP for being a united party.“You are not united just for the sake of unity but around your president, ideology and philosophy,” Tawanana said, adding that the BCP coalition will never betray its leader, Dumelang Saleshando.“We cannot be where Saleshando is not. If you hate him, you hate me too”, said Tawanana who is certain that the BCP-MELS coalition will never break apart. The MELS leader accused the UDC of always blaming Saleshando for their political failures.“When the UDC faltered in the 2014 general elections, the coalition blamed Saleshando. They also unfairly blamed him for their poor performance in the 2019 polls,” he noted.Addressing the same gathering, former MP for Mogoditshane, Sedirwa Kgoroba who, alongside other AP cadres, recently joined the BCP-BLP coalition after the AP entered into a partnership with the UDC, said that for him and his fellow defectors, the decision to work with the BCP and not the UDC is in the interest of the country.“Makgololo, re mmogo le lona,” Kgoroba said, meaning ‘liberators, we are with you.’

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CHOICELESS CHOICE