The bane of Opposition Parties
Poor leadership, disregard for the party constitution, intolerance and the personalisation of power have consigned opposition parties to ‘ permanent opposition.’- study
Back in the 1990s, several countries in Africa witnessed an alternation of power when the ruling parties lost to the opposition. This has yet to happen in Botswana as opposition parties remain in ‘ permanent opposition.’
This is despite the fact that, unlike in other African countries, opposition parties have never been outlawed or repressed. Many attribute the perennial loss to the BDP by the opposition in this country to poor leadership.
While the existence of opposition parties is a demonstration of political pluralism in a given country, it is the conduct of opposition parties that determines how they are viewed by the electorate that signals the prospect of a change of government.
Thus far the opposition has failed to convince the electorate that they are a worthy alternative and can be entrusted with power. Not only does the opposition provide the opportunity for alternation of power. Opposition parties are no doubt an indication of political tolerance because, as they say, “every country has a government, only democracies have an opposition.”
Since the independence election in 1965 which election was won comfortably by the Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP), the opposition has cried foul accusing the ruling party of election rigging as well as its use of state resources for competitive advantage.
The loudest vote - steal i ng allegations have been for the 2019 general election whose petitions by the opposition were unsuccessful on technicalities. According to Professor Zibani Maundeni and Kebapetse Lotshwao, in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana ( UB), the weaknesses of the opposition are indicated by the opposition’s failure over the years to dethrone the ruling BDP.
The results of a survey by Afrobarometer some six ( 6) years ago which involved 9 500 interviewees in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, indicate that, opposition parties in these countries are not trusted by the voters as compared to the government parties which are also the independence parties in the majority of instances.
In a research paper titled: Internal Organisation of Political Parties in Botswana, the academics blame poor leadership especially in the Botswana National Front ( BNF) which has been the main opposition party in the country until recently when it was supplanted by its splinter party, the Botswana Congress Party ( BCP).
According to the two academics, the BNF, right from the 70s, has been dogged by destructive factionalism and factional splits due to poor leadership and lack of strategy. In their view, as long as there is poor leadership in the opposition characterised by a disregard for the party constitution, as well as intolerance and the personalisation of power, opposition parties will remain in ‘ permanent opposition.’
The opposition leadership, according to the analysts, has always been st rong on confrontation and weak on conciliation which thing has, according to them, not only led to the formation of splinter parties but has given the opposition a bad name in the eyes of the electorate.
In some instances, poor leadership in the opposition in general has led to resignations by aggrieved members to join the ruling BDP. To buttress their argument, the academics record that, when a group of BNF members threatened to leave the party back in the 1970s because they were not happy with Bathoen Gaseitsiwe’s leadership style which they considered dictatorial, the founder of the BNF, Dr. Kenneth Koma called their bluff by saying, “a few more chaps would have to go for the BNF to advance.”
Again according to the two political scientists, when Ray Molomo left the BNF in 1976, the then secretary general, Mareledi Giddie said, “every serious political party strengthened itself by occasional purges, expulsions and resignations of misplaced individuals.”
The Russia- educated Giddie called the process ‘ purification by elimination.’ The same attitude was in display when Daniel Kwele fell out with the BNF in favour of the BDP. Ironically, the same philosophy was at play when Giddie himself fell out with the BNF leading to his resignation from the party!
When the Botswana Peoples Party split into three parts in 1962 barely two years after its formation, very little effort at conciliation was made by the leadership of the time. Indications are that, the split was occasioned by lack of transparency on the part of the Philip Matante- led party.
Instead of taking a neutral position when there is factionalism in the party, party leaders have got the tendency to take sides. This is according to Prof Maundeni and Lotshwao. Their position is that, the BNF could have avoided the 1998 split which led to the formation of the BCP had Dr. Koma not aligned himself with one of the factions against the other.
The BNF went on to ‘ birth’ a number of splinter parties such as; the Botswana Freedom Party ( BFP), Botswana Workers’ Front ( BWF), the Peoples United Socialist Organisation ( PUSO), Social Democratic Party ( SDP) and the New Democratic Front ( NDF).
The academics aver that, poor leadership in the BNF was further demonstrated by Otsweletse Moupo nullification of primary elections won by the faction that he did not like, which was led by his deputy, Kathleen Letshabo.
Letshabo and company went to court and won some of their claims. The BDP first experienced a split in 2010 during Dr. Ian Khama’s presidency, who had been ‘ parachuted’ from the Botswana Defence Force ( BDF) to lead the BDP.
According to them, while Sir Ketumile Masire and Dr. Festus Mogae were strong on compromises instead of confrontation, Khama, who was the party leader when the BDP split for the first time in 2010 resulting in the formation of the Botswana Movement for Democracy ( BMD), was accused of dictatorship and repression.
He was weak on conciliation and strong on unilateralism. The fortunes of the BDP plummeted as the party got only 47 percent of the popular vote to the opposition’s 53 percent at the 2014 general elections due to instability within its ranks. This poor performance by the ruling party was unprecedented.
The first- past the post electoral system however, ensured the BDP remained in power. The second split of the BDP in 2019 which resulted in the formation of the Botswana Patriotic Front ( BPF) is generally blamed on both Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi who arguably preferred confrontation to conciliation and Dr. Khama who is reputed for never retreating in a fight.
Their respective characters defined them as poor leaders in the mould of the opposition leaders in this country. When it lasted, the stability of the BDP engendered trust in the ruling party while perennial conflicts within the opposition caused distrust of the opposition by the voters. Then, the ruling party remained the bastion of peace and progress in Botswana.
The ongoing tensions occasioned by fights for positions within the Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) hardly demonstrate maturity on the part of the opposition in this country. Things are likely to get worse as two more parties, the Alliance for Progressives ( AP) and the BPF have engaged the UDC in opposition cooperation talks for bye- elections and the 2024 general election.
The current members of the UDC are BCP, BNF and BPP. If not handled properly, the allocation of wards and constituencies is likely to be a deal breaker as happened in 2012 when the BCP left the collective and went it alone in the 2014 general election due to irreconcilable disagreements over the allocation of wards and constituencies.
Opinion is also divided among the opposition parties regarding the model of cooperation as some parties propose a complete merger of the five ( 5) parties while others prefer an alliance. Proponents of a merger, whether found in the UDC leadership or general membership, are alarmed by the prospect of a coalition government which they believe would plunge the country into a political crisis as has happened elsewhere on the continent.
At the non- elective congress of the UDC in 2018, it was resolved that the contracting parties would engage each other on the possibility of a merger after the 2019 general election.
When the UDC came into being in 2012, its office bearers were determined by the leaders of the contracting partners.
For example, the president came from BNF while BCP produced the vice president and the BPP donated the chairperson. Calls for the democratisation of the UDC by way of an elective congress have reached a crescendo from the BCP and the anti- Boko faction in the BNF.
Allegedly fearful of a loss by Boko at the envisaged congress, Boko’s supporters are not keen on the forum either. Nor is Boko’s faction supportive of a merger which would throw his position open for contest. Boko has been accused of making unilateral but far- reaching decisions for the UDC.
“He apparently held secret meetings with former President ( Dr Ian Khama) which resulted in some form of cooperation with the Botswana Patriotic Front ( BPF). This angered a lot of people.
“He refused to tell us who his funders were and what they were going to benefit in return to the financial assistance,” said a UDC member of the central committee.