Jacob Nkate
3 July 2009
The Botswana Democratic Party congress, to be held in Kanye in the next two weeks, has practically turned the BDP campaign on its head. From President, party chairman and party elders the political swords have been unsheathed. There is blood on the floor. This time Education Minister and party Secretary General, Jacob Nkate has gone for Kwelagobe's jugular urging BDP supporters to reject Kwelagobe's bid for re-election as party
Nkate's accusations
From time immemorial, Daniel Kwelagobe has been a thorn on the Party leadership. Writing in his book, "Very Brave or Foolish" former President Q. K. J. Masire notes that: "Dan was always a very difficult fellow in cabinet. He could virtually silence some of the senior ministers such as Messrs. Nwako, Haskins, Thema and Tsoebebe. If he knew anything embarrassing about a person, he would use it".
Added to that, QKJ Masire writes: "As president and as leader of the party I had a difficult time dealing with Dan and Mompati Merafhe". The problems associated with Merafhe, according to QKJ, were that many people saw Mompati Merafhe as being groomed to be the future president, and to counter such a move, Ponatshego Kedikilwe was pushed by DK as an alternative to Mompati Merafhe.
QKJ concedes that at the time, he thought Mompati Merafhe was the best, followed by PHK. It therefore follows that DK has been at the forefront of BDP factions that are nothing but a product of personal vendetta against Mompati Merafhe.
In his book entitled "The Magic of Perseverance", David Magang points out that the Kedikilwe/Kwalogobe faction resented Mogae's appointment as Vice president. They were intent on campaigning vigorously to have PHK as their presidential candidate.
Section 35 of the Botswana constitution then read: "In the event that the presidency became vacant in circumstances other than electoral defeat, MPs would, within seven days, nominate new presidential candidates for Parliament to vote on".
This was however amended such that the vice president automatically succeeds the president in the event of the latter vacating office for reasons other than a ballot based dismissal, resulting in Vice President Mogae ascending to the presidency.
The resentment against Mogae continued with the Kedikilwe/Kwelagobe faction labelling Mogae a member of the Nkate/Merafhe faction and Magang attests that this was not the case.
It appears that Kwelagobe has not given up his fight against the current Vice President, Mompati Merafhe, and he is using the Barata-Party to meet his ends. Kwelagobe has gone on record as saying he will encourage President Khama to appoint a woman to the Vice Presidency, once again attempting to have a go at Merafhe in a two-pronged strategy. His other strategy is to mislead the unsuspecting MaDomkrag to follow his grand plan of having Merafhe replaced as the Vice President.
MaDomkrag should now come to the realisation that they cannot be used by Kwelagobe in his petty desire to settle old scores with Mompati Merafhe, and they should send a clear message to DK that it is about time he stops using the BDP and 'Barata-Party' as a pawn for deep seated hatred.
Aware of this, DK propelled animosity against Merafhe. The party leader, Ian Khama, requested that so called faction leaders, myself (Nkate), DK, Kedikilwe and Merafhe, should not contest for central committee elections to avoid further polarisation of the party in an election year.
Unfortunately, DK refused, claiming that he is exercising his democratic right. This is despite the fact that at the Palapye congress, DK, Goareng Mosinyi, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and others requested Khama not to stand against Kedikilwe in the interests of party unity, which Khama gladly accepted, and there was no question of violating the constitution.
During the transition, with Mogae handing over to President Khama in 2008, Khama, who then was party chair, had to vacate the chairmanship. Lieutenant General Merafhe expressed interest in being elected chairman by the central committee and so did DK.
DK approached President Khama to prevail on Merafhe to give DK a chance as the BDP chairman, which Khama gladly accepted in the best interest of the party, and so DK was elected chairman unopposed. This was not viewed as violating the constitution of the party.
It is therefore surprising that when DK is requested to withdraw his candidacy from chairmanship in the best interest of the party, he turns around and says the constitution of the organisation is being violated.
The raving review that DK gets from the press as fighting to protect the constitution and democracy is laced with poison, what in 'mhele' jargon is known as a 'treckshag' for the BDP, a situation that results in a lose-lose situation.
As the saying goes, no news is good news, and therefore some people are setting up agenda that will lead the BDP into oblivion whereupon after the general election, the party will be involved in a circus with some members holding it to ransom. The situation will undoubtedly play itself out should the 'Barata - Party led by DK win the central committee elections. The Party will be paralysed as there would be two centres of power. My take is that it will be difficult for the BDP to achieve much should such a situation play itself out, and the only way to halt such a situation is to reject DK as chairman.
BDP members should be worried that as these factions, which are a product of petty jealousy, are at each other's throats, the party has got their eyes off the ball, being the opposition, and thanks to DK.
This will undoubtedly result in the BDP losing a good number of seats that were there for the picking, 'low hanging fruit', so to say. A good number of constituencies in the hands of the opposition BNF and BCP stand out as low hanging fruit. The most vulnerable of the opposition Parliamentary seats was Gaborone Central, currently held by the BCP's have Saleshando, considering that he won the seat by a paltry margin of 91 votes.
Dumelang Saleshando managed to down Margaret Nasha on the basis of the UB youth vote, and this time around the BDP have done their homework by fielding Gomolemo Motswaledi, a University of Botswana employee, a youth and an exuberant charmer boy.
The Gaborone Central constituency is still winnable if we are to change our strategy, and have Motswaledi concentrate his efforts at campaigning there as against taking much of his time campaigning for central committee elections.
His priority should be to win Gaborone Central and come 2011, he can concentrate his efforts at being BDP secretary general.
Then there is Gaborone West South, currently in the hands of the BNF through the troubled Robert Molefhabangwe. The chances of the BDP wrestling this constituency from the BNF were very high, considering the ongoing BNF infighting within the said constituency.
Lately, it has been reported that Molefhabangwe has been unceremoniously booted out of the BNF. The implication thereof is that the party will have to search for a parliamentary candidate at this late juncture. Considering that the BDP has fielded one of its most able candidates, save for his involvement in the faction wars, this constituency was up for easy picking.
However for now, both the BNF and BDP are in the same boat on this one, fighting bitter internal wars, hence the contest is a 50/50 bid for both. The two parties - BDP and BNF - may be saved by the fact that the BCP was not apt at fielding a candidate suitable enough to compete with either Botsalo Ntuane or Molefhabangwe, or whoever the BNF will eventually field.
There are also other constituencies we could donate to the opposition if we do not change our strategy. One such constituency is Francistown South, won in the primary elections by the youthful Wynter Mmolotsi. The incumbent MP, Khumongwana Maoto, was victorious over the BCP's veteran, Vain Mamela, by a margin of about 140 votes.
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