Balopi building or burning bridges?

Whether one agrees with the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Central Committee’s approach of apologising to the leadership of Bagammangwato, it cannot be disputed that the leadership is walking the talk.Campaigning for office towards the Maun 2025 Congress, then Presidential candidate and current Party President, Mpho Balopi, made it widely known that, if elected, his Central Committee would seek among many other priorities, to make peace with Bagammangwato, following what he perceived as injustices that they suffered under the former BDP government with acts such as the denial of the use of their main Kgotla in Serowe.Now at the helm of BDP, Balopi and team, are determined to deliver on this promise. Questions have arisen regarding the wisdom of this move, and only time will tell.“We are commencing the process of building bridges with all communities that we had a fallout with. We are pursuing Kagisano, a BDP constitutional value.In the end we may or may not agree on political views, but at least we are taking responsibility and trying to ensure that all those who have been offended by our leadership in the past know that we have our doors and arms open to them,” Balopi said in an interview on Tuesday this week.Interestingly, the BDP president suggests that this is not a once-off action and that similar actions will be pursued with various stakeholders around the country under what he referred to as “applicable contexts” over time.In Gammangwato, headquartered in Serowe, Balopi says the context is that Bagammangwato were denied the use of their Kgotla by the former BDP government using very unusual means such as armed responses against harmless elderly people.Balopi argues, “It is important to respect and uphold the Kgotla as a centre of community building and counsel. It is the place that all Merafe go to when deep and collective community reflection is necessary.Bagammangwato in Serowe were denied this through the blockage of Kgotla use. Such action had the potential of curtailing community building, and that is not what the BDP or its government is known for.”Balopi says that this is unprecedented under BDP rule and that he and the Central Committee are of the view that it was a great injustice and painful lesson which cannot be undone but for which remorse must be shown nonetheless.It appears however that not everyone within the BDP is cheering this move. Antagonists believe that the party should not be apologising for the decisions and actions of the government they used to preside over.Balopi responds that this doubt is expected and accepted and that, as the BDP leadership, they are aware and will do all they can to make party members and the nation to appreciate the importance of building bridges.He explains that the action is an act of collective responsibility and that there’s little room for individual preferences and tastes.“We must do what’s in the best interest of ensuring peaceful co-existence,” he says, promising that more details will be shared after the highly anticipated meeting in Serowe.Former President and Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Patron and now Kgosikgolo of GammaNgwato and member of Ntlo Ya Dikgosi, Kgosi Ian Khama IV has accepted to meet the BDP delegation in a meeting scheduled for 23rd August 2025.The then ruling party under the leadership of former President Mokgweetsi Masisi had an unpleasant relationship with the Gammangwato tribal leadership which resulted in the royal uncles being barred from holding any Kgotla meetings at the main Kgotla.The royal uncles indicated that the meetings were purely meant to update Morafe about Khama who was on self-imposed exile.The government on the other hand argued that the meetings were politically motivated as Khama had launched a political war to remove President Masisi and his party from power.The BDP leadership is expected to meet the Gammangwato leadership on Saturday, 23 August, 2025 in Serowe in the first such meeting since Khama IV’s resumed the royal seat.Thereafter the BDP is expected to hold a political rally in the village that was once its stronghold. Could this be one of the bridges to return BDP to full strength? Balopi and company think so, but only time will tell.

Explore

More

Politics

Politics

Balopi building or burning bridges?