The Botswana National Front (BNF) is on collision course with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) following conflicting schedules for their official meeting in Francistown next month.
The UDC has announced its leadership national executive committee (NEC) tour of Francistown on December 10, 2022 which will clash with the BNF leadership meeting scheduled for the same date.
Indications are that neither of the two parties is willing to barge. UDC Spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa has however denied there was a deliberate attempt by the UDC to disrupt BNF activities. BNF is a member of the UDC.
“The activities of the 10th and 11th December were decided upon at the UDC NEC meeting held last month in which the BNF deployees sat. The BNF deployees to the UDC NEC are the President, the Chairperson, the Secretary General and a central committee additional member. Obviously it could have escaped their minds then as they were part of the decision to have these UDC activities on those dates.”
Mohwasa said the BNF activity was not brought to the attention of the UDC NEC for consideration. “Clash of dates happens in any organisation and what follows is to resolve it in a harmonious and collegial spirit that currently prevails in the UDC. It is not like it was a deliberately thought out clash”.
Mohwasa said some of the decisions made at that meeting included a UDC membership card launch, a retreat for central committee members of affiliate parties and the UDC NEC to be held early next year, and that rallies be held in Maun and Rakops on the 28th and 29th January, 2023 respectively.
While it is clear from Mohwasa’s response to Sunday Standard that the decision was made by the UDC NEC some within the BNF were quick to point a finger at the UDC Spokesperson accusing him of undermining the BNF NEC.
Mohwasa lost to Ketlhalefile Motshegwa in the race for BNF Secretary General earlier this year. BNF President Duma Boko however co-opted him back into the committee. He had been believed to be Boko’s preferred candidate for the Secretary General position at the Ba Isago University congress in Gaborone. Speaking to Sunday Standard Mohwasa did not say if any of the parties would reconsider their position on the date for the meetings. Should they fail to reach a compromise it will be interesting to see which side the BNF leadership would choose with the party president , secretary general, and chairman also forming part of the UDC NEC.
