Since the departure of Kenneth Koma, Gaborone South ÔÇô or that part of Gaborone of which he was a Member of Parliament has slipped away from the Botswana National Front control.
Winning the constituency back has consistently proved elusive.
The importance of Gaborone South to BNF cannot be overemphasized.
And many BNF members would readily agree that in many ways, this constituency really is the cradle of the latter day BNF movement, which epoch effectively starts in the early 1980s, especially 1984 when Dr Koma entered into parliament under euphoric circumstances which our historians are yet to adequately chronicle.
BNF’s loss of Gaborone South in many ways coincided with what became a long era of BNF decline.
This decline was characterized by instability, wobbly leadership, infighting and general lethargy including at membership levels.
Today there is a general feeling among members that the BNF is back, albeit under a different incarnation called Umbrella for Democratic Change.
There is a streak of confidence among members that they are a party of the future.
It may be too early yet, especially since from the look of things, the Botswana Democratic Party is not going to go away without a fight.
For the BNF, fighting, or should we say finishing off the BDP is one, and asserting own strength is quite another.
The space of ascendance to which the BNF aspires would never be complete without the party recapturing Gaborone South which by all measure is its spiritual home. It is across this constituency from where many of us still remember how Kenneth Koma surrounded by his acolytes like Paul Rantao, Maitshwarelo Dabutha, Mareledi Giddie, Lemogang Ntime and Frank Marumo among others used his oratory and human skills to push BNF into a truly national movement with clear state leadership ambitions.
It was from the Gaborone South, using the constituency as a launching pad that BNF started to have a distinctive broad church appeal beyond just a small group of idealistic Marxists that had always been at its core during its formative years.
While these will always be remembered as the days of the BNF, the truth is that the giant had feet made of clay.
Kenneth Koma for all his intellectual prowess, had made the BNF into his own image ÔÇô huge in engendering brand loyalty while not doing much to enhance organizational continuity.
When disaster struck, everything fell apart and quickly became rubble and all that was left was a large political party truss that inspired fierce loyalty among members but one which was clumsily configured including at cell level.
That is the reality from which the BNF is still trying recover. The situation was made worse by a crude split that happened in the late 1990s which sired the Botswana Congress Party.
Things only came under control when the BNF linked itself to Botswana Movement for Democracy.
Under this relationship, the BNF brought in the masses, which by the way had never left, while BMD brought in organizational nimbleness. So far things are working for the partners and constituencies are falling into the bag. But unfortunately not the constituency that matters the most the BNF’s history.
BNF will never be its true self until it recaptures what had always been its backyard ÔÇô Gaborone South.
For BNF diehards, particularly stressful and disheartening must be seeing that Gaborone South has in way become a BDP heartland.  
During Koma’s days that would have been anathema.
I still remember how the BDP deployed its richest benefactor, Satar Dada to try and use his personal wealth and deliver Gaborone South under the BDP orbit.
Koma laughed Dada off and goaded the capitalist doyen to donate yet more of his wealth to the constituency. Dada spent a fortune, but still lost decimally.
At the last General Elections, BNF seemed set to regain the memento ÔÇô until a last minute development that occasioned vote splitting.
But still it would seem the party does not understand just how much of a psychological boost winning Gaborone South would be to itself.
The sooner they realize and internalize this, the better it will be for their ongoing efforts to seize state power!
