Francistown — The Botswana National Front (BNF) Women's League last Sunday snubbed an invitation by the Women's Movement in Botswana to bid President Festus Mogae farewell.

"We were invited to bid Mogae farewell and recognise his contribution, especially what he has reportedly done for women during his tenure. The invitation purported that Mogae has done a lot for women of Botswana," said BNF Women's League publicity secretary, Keneilwe Lekoba.

President Mogae is currently on a countrywide tour to bid Batswana farewell as his term as president comes to an end on March 31.

"To us, the content of the invitation was more of a turn off than an attraction. At the BNF, we just cannot identify ourselves with the statement from the Women's Affairs Department (WAD) that 'Mogae has done a lot for Botswana women' hence we rejected the invitation". The contention of the BNF women is that Mogae has not done enough to empower Botswana women, the majority of whom are heads of families, during his two term period.

The BNF women say that Mogae has not done very well particularly for the ordinary women in the rural areas for anyone to write home about "to the extent that we can celebrate".

Lekoba's main gripe is that "the mere fact that Mogae has appointed a few women to the positions of permanent secretaries and directors does not automatically translate to empowerment of the ordinary Motswana woman in places like Mmathethe and others".

She finds it very strange to be expected to celebrate Mogae's departure when there is a lot of unfinished bussiness calling for his attention and that of his ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government.

Lekoba bemoaned the fact that celebrations for Mogae came at a time when the Mogae government did not have child care programmes benefiting ordinary women and their children.

"It's under Mogae's government that women were incessantly battered.

Child care should be the business of the government, but instead under Mogae, it was left to the market forces to determine their fate".

She was worried that childcare programmes like pre-school and others should be the business of the government.

"In Botswana today, the majority of families are female headed who are also battered by societal ills like poverty and they therefore fail to pay school fees," declared Lekoba, who is also a University of Botswana academic.

She pointed out that "we were invited to bring presents to the event and these people thought we had reason to celebrate".

Principal gender officer in the WAD, Vuyelwa Portia Mvungama confirmed that the BNF Women's League has wrote to their department indicating that they would not honour the President's farewell party.

"Amongst their reasons they felt that the President has not done enough during his tenure of office. As a government department, we merely acknowledged their non-participation and focused on the business we had at hand," she said.

She said that "it has always been the position of the BNF women that instead they will hold their own activities including the petition they presented to the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs".

She also stressed that the petition was far different from the farewell party.

Mvungama indicated that as a government department, WAD was only sending invitations to organisations and individuals on behalf of Women's Movement in Botswana, which is made up of women from all political parties.

She indicated that the President's farewell party was organised by the Women's Movement in Botswana and the responsibility of WAD was merely to facilitate the process.

"Our core business, amongst others, is to promote gender equality," said Mvungama, who added,

" The women who attended the President's farewell party made it a huge success".