Dr. Molatlhegi rattles BNF ship
Says the party is in ICU Statement irritates his fellow party colleagues MASS- BNF demands an apology BNF central committee condemns Dr. Molatlhegi’s utterances
The entrance of Dr. Baatlhodi Molatlhegi into the Botswana National Front ( BNF) presidential race has shaken the party’s ship.
Dr. Molatlhegi enters the race a few weeks after BNF Vice President Dr. Prince Dibeela announced that he is dropping from the presidential race due to personal reasons.
Molatlhegi will be challenging Advocate Duma Boko who is defending his seat. The BNF, which goes for its elective congress this year, has started holding Regional Congresses in preparation for the National Congress. The Kweneng Region is expected to hold its congress tomorrow in Molepolole. Dr. Molatlhegi is said to have so far made inroads in two regions being Southern and Western Region. Boko has much support in the South Central and Kweneng Region. South Central is the party’s biggest region.
Dr. Molatlhegi sparked controversy and debate within the BNF following his utterances on the state of the BNF last week when unveiling his campaign. He stated that the party has been reduced to a pale shadow of itself with its organisational structures having collapsed. While some agree with Dr. Molatlhegi on the state of affairs within the BNF, others have criticised his utterances and dismissed his campaign as having started on a wrong footing. He has also not been spared criticism by some party structures including the central committee. Dr. Molatlhegi said, “honest members of our organisation will readily admit this. The party structures, needless to emphasise, are the organisation’s lifeline. They are the cogwheel around which its functioning revolves. “It is difficult to think of an organisation being healthy or alive when its organs have ceased to function. The decline in popularity by the BNF as evinced by its dismal decline in its performance in successive national elections even under the Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) could be attributed to the collapse of its structures. “The ruling party has made serious inroads in constituencies historically known to be ours. In areas where we do not record outright decline, we see stagnation at best. We cannot bury our heads in the sand when things are not okay in the movement.”
The BNF student movement at the University of Botswana, MASS- BNF condemned
Dr. Molatlhegi for saying the BNF is in ICU. MASS- BNF Secretary General Kesaobaka Metsi said such utterances undermine the unremitting members of the BNF who have given so much of themselves in their capacities to fight for the revolution.
“We wonder who this man is, who attacks an organisation he claims he wants to lead. What is his true intent and mission, we ask? His attacks clearly come directly from a script penned by our adversaries both within the UDC of which we will lead till eternity, and the Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP). “It is no wonder they praised and celebrated his attacks on the BNF. We have decisively dealt with those adversaries here at the University of Botswana last year and we are going to do the same this year at the upcoming SRC elections.
“We note with disgrace, embittered and abashed by his words, and we urge him if he is an elder in the movement to own up and unconditionally apologise to it and its members,” Metsi stated this week. BNF Information and Publicity Secretary Justin Hunyepa said the BNF remains united, resilient and as fit as a fiddle under the leadership of Advocate Boko. He stated that since the leadership of Adv Boko, the party has attracted many youth and adults and the membership base has grown exponentially as thousands of new members have been welcomed into the party. Hunyepa said the 2019 general election saw a systematic BDP rigging assisted by some state organs in the BNF managed constituencies in the southern part of the country. He said the BNF has successfully held its statutory conferences and congresses all these years under Adv Boko.
“While the ruling party has broken several times leading to the formation of BMD and BPF, Adv Boko has kept the BNF united and attractive. “Still under Cde Boko’s leadership, the Umbrella for Democratic Change ( UDC) was born, and despite the several severe storms that have threatened to break it, Adv Boko has kept it united and robust.
“It is therefore grossly misleading and incorrect for Dr. Molatlhegi to make announcement on public media platforms claiming that the BNF is in ICU. “While it is democratic for members to stand for any party position, we advise BNF members to resist temptations of undermining the party in public platforms as per the party’s guiding principles,” Hunyepa said.