Duma and Dumelang must come out clean on their real issue

I must once again express my disappointment in you both – Comrade Dumelang and Comrade Duma – for your conspicuous failure to lead when an opportunity had been granted to you to prove what you are made of. Just how you could let things spiral so out of control still beats me, even as I realize that the differences that have driven a wedge between you are at a point where reconciliation might just be a pipe dream. I however do not want to believe that the purported lack of good governance and democracy at the UDC is the only reason pushing you away from the crumbling project, wena Dums.

I sense there is more to this than meets the eye. I can’t exactly put my finger to it but it is clear there are other underlying issues that you guys are not coming out clearly to discuss in the open. Sentlesentle, lo lwela eng? Ke gore dilo tsa lona e kare tsa batho go na le yo senyeditseng o mongwe mme go sena ope wa lona who wants the matter to become public knowledge for fear of embarrassment on the one hand, and protection of image and dignity for the other. Of course I hear gore tota wena Dums you have never trusted Boko’s genuineness in this unity project, believing the guy only wanted to use the might of the BCP to expedite his way to State House. It did not help when in the run up to the 2019 elections, rumours were peddled that Boko and Dithapelo were engaged in a grand scheme to isolate you once power had been attained by the UDC.

This even more heightened by the duo always flying together even where many expected the traveling pack to be inclusive of yourself instead of Stix. Three years later, Stix is still seen to be on the side of Duma in the tussle between you and the UDC President. I therefore understand your apprehension because le ene Stix is failing to manage this matter even as he knows of the witchcraft people have been saying he is plotting behind your back. Perhaps he should have been more tactful, unless le ene go na le se lo se lwelang that we do not know. The fact that ene Stix even had no qualms pulling the LOO seat from under your backside when you are his President says a lot about your relations. As I have said before, it must be an ego thing. Eish, men and their egos! I mean, for the sake of mending bridges rather than blow them further, one would have expected Stix to rather encourage peace between the two of you than to play into the one party’s plan to frustrate and spite the other. The smart guy that he is, he surely must have known what it would mean for him to side with Duma with all those rumours of a planned betrayal already hanging over your heads. So it does seem that the issues amongst you guys are deeper than just the issue of good governance and the call for democracy. Once upon a time before the elections a local newspaper reported that ‘Dumelang and Duma are like oil and water, they can’t work together.’ Quoting what were called impeccable sources, the newspaper said everything you guys showed in public was just a façade of convenience as at the time, the two of you knew you needed each other’s numbers to win the elections. There were even related predictions that you guys would surely fight about governance after attaining power, a narrative laced with reports that Boko was preparing Stix to be his Vice President once UDC took over. And then there were those leaked audios of the UDC financier Moti talking to Duma about you in not so flattering terms.

And these things were happening at the height of the 2019 election campaigns when you guys needed each other more in order to subdue the monster that is the BDP. Incidentally, we learn too, of the sabotage in the Gaborone Bonnington North constituency, where BCP loyalists are said to have been adamant that they would not vote you, wena Duma.

It is a rumour that was alive even before elections, with reports that some BCP cadres were actively involved in campaigning for their ex-member, Annah Mokgethi representing the monster party, whom they reportedly viewed as the better devil they could tolerate instead of giving you passage to State Presidency ahead of their own man Dums. It was even shocking when after the elections some wrote on facebook that they were happy you did not win, even ridiculing your intention to protest the election results, ba re o batla go e intsha ditlhong tsa go jewa ke Annah. When you talked of the elections being rigged, they encouraged Dums not to get involved, saying you were only jealous that the BCP president went to Parliament when you failed to do so yourself. Although he has tried to be modest about the issue, it is clear le ene Dums gore he never really believed in your narrative of rigged elections. He had to do what his UDC President instructed him to do.

Bona fela gore Dums has gone out in public to challenge you to prove that rigging did take place – a re oa pala ka report ya rigging. We also learn that you had wanted the UDC to boycott the inauguration of President Masisi in 2019, and that you have never forgiven Dums for attending that ceremony at UB.

Dikgang tsa lona di dintsi re ka lala fa. All in all, it does appear there has never been any openness and honesty amongst you guys. I am thus tempted to believe that newspaper report that said the two of you are like oil and water – all we have seen between you was a public show of convenience when it was always clear gore ga lo utlwane. Today

gatwe wena Dums you are using the governance issue as an excuse to move away from Duma, gatwe you always wanted out. Duma le ene is failing to be the bigger person in admitting to that blatant and gaping flaw to make amends for the sake of unity. O palelwa ke eng Duma to shut Dums up by doing what he and his party are calling for? Because let’s be honest, he makes a lot of sense, no matter how hard you try to pour scorn on his convictions. The UDC can easily win elections against BDP, he says. But then what? Only after attaining power will you start putting up credible governance structures? Given the hot-headed politicians within your coalition partners? Wouldn’t fights ensue when you are to start leading the country? What is so difficult about doing things right, months before elections? In the end you end up fighting for things that should not even be an issue.

For people who each claim to want to save the masses from BDP misrule? Just how do you guys sleep every day knowing that while you scream and shout emancipation of the masses from the prickly clutches of CAVA’s incorrigible misrule, you are actually selling a whole nation of Botswana a pie in the sky? Just how do you hope to inspire hope and confidence in the suffering people of this country when you cannot resolve small matters of divergence in thought? Mo ga lona ke bo petty fela; you have let your egos take charge of your thinking and reasoning power, and you behave as if this country owes you something very big.

The obstinate bulls that you are, your endless fights for God-knowswhat, have only succeeded in leaving the proverbial grass bruised – the ordinary people who had so much hope in your promise of a better Botswana are losing faith in your egocentric selves. Your pronounced failure at leadership within the UDC right now is indicative of the monstrous problems the people of Botswana would be grappling with right now under your stewardship if you had taken over state power. Imagine you have started fighting even before lo tsaa puso. You guys need to introspect and revisit your vows towards the people you claim to care about. You must grow some balls and rise to tackle your differences eyeball to eyeball towards arresting the bigger picture.

And then, unfortunately, there are your cheerleaders who fail to call you to order and make you account. Your blind followers, Dumelang, do not care what errors of judgement you make, they swear to follow you wherever you go, even if it is to a pitfall of doom. And then there are your see-noevil-hear-no-evil worshipers wena Duma - the ones who would shout DGB or Nothing, beyond which they cannot reason any further. And here we are talking about men and women with PhDs and degrees of different levels but who can’t reason beyond shouting your names, in the end misleading you into thinking you are some gods. Nnyaa bagaetsho itseeng stock – while there is time, phatlalatsang those irritating groupings tsa lona lo dire a single political party that can match that red monster. Anything else, given your egos, will maintain the current political status.

elections were rigged!