allAfrica.com: Botswana: On Scrutinising the State of the Movement (final) (Page 1 of 4)

The Central Committee also failed to understand Article 2.1 and 2.2 of the party constitution and embarked on an ill-advised strategy of sidelining and even destabilising some of the members of the minority platform who were MPs and councilors.

Apparently Lobatse and Gaborone South MPs were specifically targeted in this strategy. Against established rules Moupo has just contrived to nullify the primary elections won by Magama and once again another court battle beckons as a result of this tragic leadership.

At one point some of their over-zealous members were making a patently nonsensical suggestion that the BNF leader should relocate to Gaborone South because it is 'traditionally' a constituency reserved for the party leader! The damage caused by these errors and blunders or deliberate strategy of destabilisation are enormous.

Apparently the Central Committee was hoping that its preferred slate of parliamentary and council candidates would win the primary elections. Just like the campaigns for the extraordinary congress, the primary election campaigns were dogged by all sorts of irregularities, which the Central Committee either authorized or failed to stop. Even BDP members voted as they did at the extraordinary congress.

Against all odds several members of our platform won council and parliamentary primary elections and even the party President was beaten fair and square by an ordinary party member.

Now the Central Committee has resorted to crude tactics of trying to unseat Comrades Modubule and Magama. Months after these comrades won their primary elections without anybody lodging a protest within the two weeks specified in the regulations, they have been summoned to appear before some kangaroo Appeals Boards, one of them headed by Moupo's brother.

Rules governing the primary elections are revised and unconventionally applied immediately. This is highly unprofessional. Of course just before the primary elections we witnessed yet another circus when the Central Committee tried to dictate terms to the Elections Board. This forced members of the Board to resign en masse thus severely embarrassing the party and its membership.

As we write this article another totally unprofessional wrangling with the new Elections Board is unfolding over the deliberate destabilization of Gaborone South on behalf of the BDP. This is certainly not the best way of running the affairs of a major opposition party challenging for political power and espousing revolutionary principles. The time has come for the party to tell Moupo in clear and unambiguous terms that: enough is enough!

This party does not belong to Moupo, Mohammed Khan, Moeti Mohwasa and a handful of their bootlickers. It belongs to the general membership, which made incredible sacrifices both as individuals and as a collective to make it the formidable force that it is.

This Central Committee has already handed over to the BDP our hard won ward of Marulamantsi and the parliamentary seat of Kgalagadi North to the enemy through bad leadership. Increasingly many BNF members now suspect that someone on the BNF Central Committee has a hidden agenda for Lobatse and Gaborone South Constituencies.

The damage is felt far beyond those two constituencies as scores of party members quit the party in utter disgust. The level of frustration among our supporters in the civil service runs very deep. Some members of the Central Committee seem determined to do everything to hand over these constituencies to the enemy on a silver platter. I

t is the duty of every vigilant BNF activist to defend the gains of the party and stop traitors in their tracks in order to save the party.

BNF members know that since the Molepolole extraordinary congress prominent members of this minority platform have been treated with deep suspicion and kept well away from national debates conducted through the state media such as BTV.

The occasions when some of them have been given specific party assignments are few and far between and some Central Committee members disapprove of our involvement. For instance Comrade Magama was asked to speak at the mass actions against AFRICOM and I was asked to draft the petition and address a rally at Kanye during mass actions against school fees. Soon after those mass actions the Publicity Secretary was reported to have complained that we should not have been invited. And yet he tried to mislead the Northern regional meeting, just before the Leadership Forum, by telling them that I had refused to carry out party assignments. He knows that he was being economic with the truth.

Let me make one point abundantly clear. Our minority platform is not based on personal likes and dislikes nor is it based on some ill-defined fleeting moods.

We do not hate Comrade Moupo nor any member of the Central Committee for that matter. Indeed the entire party was strongly united behind him during the honeymoon of his presidency before he entangled himself in seemingly insurmountable personal problems.

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