TOXIC RIDICULE
BCP tears Tshabang, UDC apart
Botswana Congress Party (BCP)’s weekend victory celebration for Moseki Mathodi, turned into a festival of toxic ridicule directed at Dr Never Tshabang and the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) as speakers took turns to portray Tshabang as a venerable political charlatan.
Tshabang is the MP for Nkange constituency in which Tutume west ward is located. He is one of the five BCP Members of Parliament (MP) who were recently expelled from the BCP when the party felt that the MPs were more loyal to the (UDC) than the BCP.
At a rally in Tutume last week, Dr Tshabang and his comrades, including the UDC president, Duma Boko cast aspersions on the BCP’s commitment to the opposition cause, even suggesting that the BCP served the interests of the ruling party.
“It is possible for one to be highly educated like Tshabang but not wise. Tshabang is educated but not wise or clever. He does not understand the relationship between the UDC and BCP. Take the example of the national team or that of SADC.
“The national team is constituted by various teams but each player remains loyal to his team. By the same token, it is my country that is a SADC member and not me. SADC knows Botswana but does not know me as an individual,” Thabologo Furniture said, in an attempt to unpack the power dynamics of the UDC collective.
“If Tshabang is a member of the UDC, I challenge him to produce his UDC membership card. Even Boko does not have the UDC membership card. We all possess the membership cards of our individual parties,” Furniture said, before suggesting that “Tshabang o tsamaiwa ke badimo.” (Tshabang has ancestral spirits)!
According to Furniture, “The BCP is a group member of the UDC. As individuals, we are not and hence have got no direct loyalty to the collective. Nor does the collective have direct control over us.”
Addressing the same rally, veteran BCP politician Vain Mamela said the animosity between the UDC and the BCP, is the outcome of jealousy on the part of the Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana People’s Party (BPP) after the BCP performed better than them in the 2019 general elections.
“When we went to the 2019 general elections, the BCP was allocated 20 constituencies, while the BNF and BPP were given 32 and five constituencies in that order. When the BCP won 11 of the constituencies, we expected our partners to be happy for a job well done,” Mamela said.
The BCP expected an evaluation
forum where the cooperating partners would compare notes on the results. Instead, Mamela said the BNF and BPP exhibited animosity towards the BCP.
“They called us names as they could not adjust to the fact that we performed better than them. Mind you, we won because we worked hard. In politics you win due to hard work and nothing else”.
He further claimed that out of malice, the UDC president Duma Boko, had reallocated wards in Mochudi, Boteti and other constituencies to the BNF when the wards belonged to the BCP, according to the allocation guidelines.
Mamela berated Dr Tshabang for blaming Saleshando for his expulsion from the BCP.
“Tshabang has been telling you lies that it is Saleshando who expelled him and the others from the party. The truth is that he was expelled by the party conference. Bo Never, Takabatatila busada,” he said in Kalanga, meaning, “We expelled Never and the others for thuggery.”
Mamela went on to note that the Nkange MP is a former BDP member who was recruited to the BCP by Taolo Lucas. According to Mamela, Batisani Maswibilili and other BCP activists had been mobilising the voters for some time.
“Ne Ikalanga toti, unonga ngomwa inopiwa nkadzi una mimba kale,” he said, referencing a Kalanga proverb that says, “He is like an impotent man who is handed an already pregnant woman.” Mamela’s suggestion is that Tshabang did not have to do anything because the constituency was winnable due to the efforts of other people.
Referring to the Duma Boko-led team which was in the constituency the previous weekend ‘’clearing the air’’ on Dr Tshabang’s expulsion from the BCP, Mamela said, “The tourists have gone back to Gaborone and you are on your own. We are going to sort you out,” he threatened.
Former BDP activist, who is also former mayor of Francistown, Peter Ngoma who has recently joined the Alliance for Progressives (AP), a potential coalition partner of the BCP, labelled Molapisi a perennial loser.
“He expelled me from the Botswana People’s Party (BPP), my former party. Molapisi recently lost a ward to an independent candidate who later joined the BCP. He lacks credibility yet he is the chairman of the UDC,” Ngoma said, suggesting that Molapisi and the UDC should never be taken seriously.
The BCP vice president, Taolo Lucas, who doubles as MP for Bobirwa constituency, told voters that what Tshabang did when he and the others removed the BCP president Dumelang Saleshando from the position of Leader Of the Opposition (LOO) is high treason.
Giving a vote of thanks, Batisani Maswibilili dismissed the BNF as unacceptable to the people.
Meanwhile, Boko has insisted that the BNF is the natural leader of the UDC from which the BCP is silently withdrawing.
“As BCP, we have worked nicely with MELS, Botswana Alliance for Democracy (BAM) but we have always had problems with the BNF,” lamented Maswibilili.