Myriad of factors cost Team Equity
Late entrances, the power of incumbency, pre-election intimidation, broken promises, and a lack of resources are some of the factors that cost Nonofo Molefhi’s Team Equity a victory over the weekend at the BDP congress in Tsabong.
Vice President Slumber Tsogwane’s team took all the key positions in what was a landslide victory. Team Equity included former Cabinet minister, Molefhi as the candidate for the chairperson position, former Bobonong legislator Shaw Kgathi for secretary-general (SG), Specially Elected Member of Parliament Unity Dow for the deputy secretary-general (DSG), and Tebelelo Seretse for deputy treasurer. They all lost as Tsogwane retained his position as chairman, Kavis Kario came in to replace former Cabinet minister Mpho Balopi as the new SG, Lemogang Kwape managed to beat Dow for the DSG position while Jagdish Shah retained his longtime position as deputy treasurer.
But coming into the race late, Team Equity knew that winning in Tsabong was going be an uphill battle, especially since most of them were racing against time. For a long time no one had the intention to challenge the incumbent chairman, Tsogwane, but a few months before the elective congress Molefhi decided to challenge the VP. Molefhi initially struggled to get his lobby list together, but the same interests forced Team Equity to come together.
After failing to make it into Tsogwane’s lobby list, Kgathi decided to charter his own path as he sought promotion from DSG to SG. Dow, just like Seretse, also announced her candidacy very late in the race. Being late entrants in the race is one of the factors that cost them the elections. Another factor is that they were facing a team led by a sitting VP and chair, who had all the advantages of the incumbent. In the history of the BDP, it is difficult to unseat an incumbent and the just-ended congress continued a long history of the trend. On the ground over the weekend, Tsogwane had all the advantages with a luxurious camp where most of the delegates assembled for accommodation.
Although some of the BDP members felt it was nothing compared to President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Camp Dubai in 2017, Tsogwane’s camp located a few kilometres outside Tsabong was lavish compared to the place Team Equity had set up camp at. The latter’s camp was a flat in the village and was not swarming with delegates compared to Tsogwane’s camp. In an interview, Molefhi claimed that none of the lobby lists had separate camps. He said he was happy that compared to 2017 when Masisi beat him this time around the party decided that delegates be provided with accommodation in one place. He said their camp at the flat was only for the campaign team. But the reality was that Tsogwane’s camp was no place for Molefhi’s sympathisers. On the eve of the elections on Friday, Tsogwane had set up the entertainment at the camp where decorated musician Vee Mampeezy serenaded the crowd of BDP supporters. As Tsogwane’s team assembled on the stage to dance to the festivities, Tsogwane took an opportunity to bash his opponents one by one.
To put the icing on the cake, Tsogwane opened the gates of firewater as delegates were given free booze. “Ga le ka ke la bo hetsa, le kamoso bo tla bo bontse bo le teng (You cannot consume all this, it will still be here tomorrow),” uttered Tsogwane as he pointed towards a truck-load of alcoholic beverages. Although Masisi had long endorsed his right-hand man, an incident where he broke one of his promises was one of the main contributors to Team Equity’s miseries.
When Masisi visited Tsogwane’s camp earlier on Friday, Masisi announced that he would later visit Molefhi’s camp as well. Molefhi and his team waited patiently hoping that Masisi’s visit would perhaps balance the scales but it would later turn out that they were waiting for nothing.
Masisi never came and there was no explanation as to why he snubbed them. On Saturday when Masisi officially opened the congress, he indicated to the delegates that he needed Tsogwane because the latter is the very same man who would assume the presidency in case he (Masisi) becomes incapacitated.
This was an outright endorsement on his part. Before the elections, Team Equity cried about the continued pre-election intimidation they suffered at the hands of pseudo-account Facebooker, France Museveni. Dow even put out an audio recording earlier that week vowing to contest despite harassment. In an interview with The Monitor Dow said the harassment and allegations made by Museveni that Team Equity is hiding loads of cash at its camp sabotaged their efforts to get donors. Molefhi also told this publication on Saturday that their supporters were denied access to accommodation because of their association with Team Equity.