All opposition party leaders have overstayed their welcome
‘Saleshando has no moral basis to criticise Boko’s long stay at UDC’
Political leaders must give way to allow for other party cadres to take over because there is never a shortage of other capable leaders in any given institution.
This is according to University of Botswana (UB) political science lecturer, Professor Zibani Maundeni in an interview with The Midweek Sun.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has been incessantly calling for the democratisation of the Umbrella
for Democratic Change (UDC), by among others, making it a constitutional requirement for the affiliates to gather at regular intervals and elect the leadership. According to Professor Maundeni, Saleshando has got no moral high-ground to criticise the UDC leader for staying too long in power.
“I agree with him on the principle he is articulating which is that leaders must not stay in power forever. He is correct in objecting to the fact, the UDC president has been the head of the UDC since inception. “It appears that there is no provision in the UDC processes for an elective congress which structure would give the coalition members the authority to directly appoint their leaders. “But in all fairness, you cannot address this problem regarding the UDC and look the other way when it comes to the individual parties themselves which constitute the UDC,” Maundeni opined. Boko is the founding president of the UDC when it was formed in 2012, according to Maundeni, the leaders of the concerned parties must deal with the undemocratic practice at party level before fighting over it at the coalition level. Maundeni would like the coalition partners to democratise their processes by introducing time limits for their leaders. In his view, the BCP, whose leader, Dumelang Saleshando has been party president for 12 years now, should canvas the coalition partners to amend their respective constitutions to institutionalise time limits. The Botswana Peoples’ Party (BPP) president, Motlatsi Molapisi and Duma Boko of the Botswana National Front (BNF) have been leaders of their parties since 2000 and 2010 in that order.
Molapisi became president of the BPP in 2000 upon the retirement of Dr Knight Maripe. When Whyte Marobela became BPP president in 2003, following the resignation of Bernard
Balikani, Molapisi became chairman before later becoming president, again which position he still holds. Predictably, there have been murmurs in the BPP by members who feel their president has been in office for quite a stretch. In Maundeni’s view, the 1998 BNF split that gave birth to the BCP is informative. The dissenter had complained that among other things, their leader had stayed in power for too long. On a different note, Maundeni is not certain about the future of the BCP-AP alliance. “Firstly, the BCP, which is potentially the lead party is injured and is limping following its loss of four Members of Parliament (MP) to the UDC. This has reduced its bargaining power as it enters into cooperation talks with the AP and the Botswana Labour Party (BLP),” posited the political scientist, who is uncertain about whether the BCP and AP whose majority of members are from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), will have mutual trust for each other.
“More crucially, at the rate at which the opposition splits, there is no doubt
that it needs to be tutored on how to keep a partner or partners,” he opined.
Meanwhile, the president of MELS, Themba Joina, whose party is an affiliate of the BCP is of the view that the opposition still has an opportunity to work together. “All is not lost. We may go to the elections as two contesting coalitions but work together after the elections. For example, where we constitute a majority when put together, such as at ward level, we may collaborate by voting together against the ruling party. Instead of mourning because we could not go to the elections as a collective, let us be realistic and swallow our pride,” Joina counselled. His view is that the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) is potentially the biggest challenge to the UDC. “The BPF can be an asset in as much as a liability. As a party, it is devoid of any known ideology. It was formed by disgruntled members and has yet to articulate what it stands for. Over and above that, if, miraculously the BDP and BPF reconcile, members of the party may trek back to the ruling party,” Joina warned.