June 5th 2021 marked the day of the biannual electoral AGM for an organization of retired soldiers known as Botswana Defence Force Retired Members Association (BDF RMA) but the elections never happened. The BDF RMA has a short history as it was established in 2008 under the tutelage of retired Major General Bakwena Oitsile, one of the founding members of the BDF itself.
Since its establishment, the BDF RMA has had a very turbulent short history. Most retired soldiers at the time were resenting the leadership of the general as most associated him with the old guard and particularly Lieutenant General Khama. Maj Gen Oitsile was replaced by Brigadier Shadrack Moloi at the 2019 AGM.
Brig Moloi was dismissed unlawfully by his own National Executive Council in 2020. Brig Moloi who had worked under Maj Gen Oitsile at Mechanical Engineers Regiment but there was bad blood from the time of the handing over ceremony.
Brig Moloi’s short tenure was viewed with a lot of suspicion by the leadership at BDF as they viewed him as an embodiment of the renegade A re Itshekeng pressure group that has taken government to court. From the moment Brig Moloi ascended to power, all forms of assistance from BDF to BDF RMA was silently curtailed.
Since the Mahalapye AGM of 2019 where Brig Moloi was elected chairman, the organization began to drift apart. It was at this AGM that the fault lines started to emerge. Lieutenant General Gaolatlhe Galebotswe who is former commander at BDF had proposed to make a presentation regarding the matter that they had taken to court regarding the transfer value of pension denominator factor from the old scheme to the new contributory scheme.
A tug of war went on for hours until Gen Galebotswe squeezed himself in to make his presentation. The presentation clearly outlined that it was against the law for soldiers to be retired using the Public Service Act instead of the BDF Act. The ratios in the Public Service Act did not in any way favour soldiers. By nature of their job, soldiers usually end up taking early retirement which is very unfair and unfavourable when soldiers retire using the Public Service Act.
While soldiers were captivated by the general officer’s presentation and were in agreement of his proposal to have the BDF RMA taking over the case, there were dissenting voices that were totally against the idea. Some threatened to pull out of the organization and collect their savings. It was a tense moment.
On the surface it looked all perfect for an association that represents the interests of retirees to foot the bill in the litigation process. But at the time some were reading too deeply into the situation. And this was the point where the two factions of the BDF RMA were beginning to define themselves. With the coming elections coming on 26th June, there are two teams that each advocates for litigation while the other pushes for a negotiated settlement with government who is the former employer.
Maj Gen Pius Mokgware is leading the litigation lobby team known as Team General Mokgware while Brig Thulaganyo Masisi is the face of the campaign of a lobby group known as Veterans Think Tank (VTT) also known as Victor Tango Tango. The teams are battling it out in the open turf and it has never been like this before.
Why are we seeing this intensity of campaigning this time around? The devil is in the detail. It seems the two opposing lobby teams have no common ground to meet on. They both hold divergent views on how to run the organization and the tipping point pivots on where each wants to take the organization in regard to litigation or negotiation. Each team is so adamant on its position to a point where they almost make it sound like a political ideology.
Team General Mokgware (named after their leader as if its in communist North Korea) is unshaken on its anti-negotiation stance while team VTT still hangs to hope that government will come to the party and negotiate. This marks the fundamental difference between the two teams. Team VTT argues that once the association takes the litigation route, that will sour future relations with government and derail further prospects of partnering with government on addressing the welfare of retired soldiers. On the other hand, Team General Mokgware is adamant that government has displayed a stubborn attitude that can only be softened by court orders.
Another fundamental difference in the two teams is that Team General Mokgware believes in high calibre leadership of high ranking officers while Team VTT has a more reconciliatory tone when it comes to ranks. The team has several Non-Commissioned Officers who appear in their lobby list.
The eagerness and the velocity at which the elections are approached this year leaves a lot to be desired. Money has for the first time become a factor in this election, something that has never happened before. And who is pumping in the money especially on Team General Mokgware? It has become evident that a third force is driving this campaign.
There are lessons to be learnt by government in this scenario. You cannot allow a situation where disgruntled former soldiers go on for so long without giving them a hearing. The divisions from top to bottom are not healthy for the security of this country. You cannot have bomb making experts complaining for so long and not listen.
Government needs to take this matter seriously and investigate if indeed the complaints by these retired soldiers hold any water. The fact that they have gone to court points to the fact that indeed they are owed their dues. In the meantime, there are reports that the youngest political party in Botswana is gaining mileage on these disgruntled soldiers.
The chaos that ensued on Saturday 5th June at the University of Botswana clearly pointed to the fact that there is a hidden agenda in this whole exercise. There has never been an election that excited members and candidates to this level before. The elections did not happen because two generals high jacked the meeting. Of course there were disagreements about the issue of the quorum but it did not have to turn out like a cock fight.
