Mokgware finally gets AP into UDC
But modest as he is, he won’t take the credit!
Alliancefor Progressives ( AP) Chairman Maj General Pius Mokgware is said to have played an instrumental role in convincing his colleagues especially the executive committee to heed the call for opposition cooperation with others.
Mokgware a former Member of Parliament for Gabane- Mankgodi is said to have challenged some of the AP National Executive Committee ( NEC) members who have been skeptical to work especially with the Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) to look at the bigger picture of unseating the ruling Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP) from power.
Opposition parties; AP, UDC and Botswana Patriotic Front ( BPF) recently held a meeting where they agreed to work together in bye- elections with the possibility of the relationship going into the 2024 general election. Ahead of the 2019 general election, AP declined to work with UDC on the grounds that the UDC should first put its house in order.
At the time the UDC was engaged in a legal battle with its expelled contracting member, Botswana Movement for Democracy ( BMD). The AP would later perform dismally in the 2019 national polls managing only one ( 1) Parliamentary seat in Francistown South won by party Vice President Wynter Mmolotsi and six ( 6) council seats throughput the country. While some members of the AP executive are still not convinced about working with both UDC and Botswana Patriotic Front ( BPF), the chairman is said to have indicated that failure to work with other parties could spell doom for the purple movement. This publication has learnt that some members of the AP are still not fully convinced of the relationship with the UDC and BPF.
The UDC’s ill doing was the decision that was taken during a verdict in 2017 where the UDC NEC failed to call for a re- run of the BMD elective congress which later led to the split of the party and the birth of the AP. The undoing of the BPF on the other hand is said to be the coming into the picture of former President, Ian Khama who is BPF Founding Patron. AP’s misgivings about Khama have been that he is the same man who made them leave the BDP and form the BMD in 2010 because of his ‘ undemocratic rule’. Sources within AP state that until the two elephants in the room are addressed the party might be in the cooperation with others with one leg outside. A few months back ahead of cooperation talks AP Secretary General Dr. Phenyo Butale had to calm the storm as party members vowed not to embrace the BPF because of Khama. Dr. Butale urged members to wait for the right forums being the Youth League, Women League and National Congresses to discuss the matter. The secretary general indicated that the National Congress expected next week will determine which route to take.
Maj Gen Mokgware, who is said to have done more to see his party coming to the negotiation table, would not want to take credit for that. He maintained during an interview that the decision was a collective as is the norm within the AP. “I did not play any major role on my own because we work as a collective at AP and we were all looking at the bigger picture,” he said. The chairman said even though there have been differences with others in the past, they have to look beyond that.
“What is important is what Batswana want. We all have to do it for Batswana. As people of Botswana we always praise Nelson Mandela for what he has done to liberate the people of South Africa and the region. Mandela did not enjoy his life because he was in prison. He came out as an old man and we all know he did that for his people. So even us we have to do it for our people. The important thing is to listen to our people and as the AP we listened hence where we are today,” Mokgware said. This is not the first time the AP chairman had wanted to work with the UDC. He did the same in 2019 where he expressed his intentions to work with UDC councillors to retain the constituency. At the time the UDC councillors were also lobbying him to join the party especially through the Botswana National Front ( BNF) which was allocated the constituency following the expulsion of BMD. Maj. Gen. Mokgware stated that the UDC councillors are very hard working and that he was prepared to work with them and encouraged the electorates to vote for them in the 2019 polls. Gabane- Mankgodi has ten ( 10) Wards. He said the intention is to ensure that the BDP does not win the constituency. According to Mokgware, as it has been his party’s stance, he also believes in opposition unity. He lost the constituency to Kagiso Mmusi of the BDP who got 12204 against Mokgware’s 4940, UDC’s Moreetsi Gomang’s 2005 and Nkwalili Nkosana of Real Alternative Party’s ( RAP) 60 votes. It is expected that should the AP stay in the cooperation until 2024 Maj Gen Mokgware stands a better chance to defeat Mmusi who the constituents now say is failing them.