If money cannot buy true love, then it can surely buy political votes. Here, I don’t mean greasing the palms of IEC officers to rig elections. You just need money to win elections in rural areas. And at times you don’t even need to spend the money on those villagers to win their hearts. You just need to show that you have it.
As long as Botswana’s opposition parties remain pitifully fragmented, and short of cash, they should forget about ever winning any by-election, especially in villages. I witnessed firsthand ‘village mentality’ unfold right before my eyes over the weekend in Mokoboxane. The BDP is a blessed party, or should I say a lucky party for being the incumbent government.
It’s Friday March 9, at 10am as the BDF helicopter lands in this tiny and dusty village. Mokoboxane is situated along the road between Letlhakane and Mopipi villages. Until the announcement of the by-election, this village had no claim to fame.
The BDF helicopter has brought the Vice President Mompati Merafhe to address a BDP political rally in the village ahead of the by-election the next day, Saturday. Two government SUV’s have been dispatched all the way from Gaborone (about 600km) to come and transport the VP from the open space where the helicopter is stationed, not far from the venue of the rally and back to the helicopter after the rally. It is a white Toyota Prado for the VP and his entourage and another black Toyota Fortuner driven by government security agents, the DIS. We follow in a convoy of vehicles belonging to BDP members from across the country.
The area MP Lebonaamang Mokalake arrives, chauffeur-driven in another government SUV hoisting the Botswana flag. Someone asks him if he is still on official duty and he responds that he is knocking off now. Indeed he knocks off as he takes his bag from the government vehicle and bids his driver goodbye. Those are the benefits of being a cabinet minister. A government vehicle drops you off at a political rally 600 kilometres from your office in Gaborone and you knock off at 10am on a Friday.
At the BDP rally, the Public Address System being used belongs to the government. It is mounted on the rooftop of a Toyota Land Cruiser belonging to government’s Department of Information Services. They tell me it is normal procedure that whenever the President or his Vice addresses any gathering they must be provided with the government PA system.
As shown by the people tasked with coordinating the campaign, the BDP takes this by-election very seriously. Assistant Minister Botlhogile Tshireletso is the campaign manager, assisted by MP Prince Maele. BDP Secretary General, Mpho Balopi is here and so is the Executive Secretary Thabo Fanu Masalila. The Women’s League is here. Councilors from Maun and Francistown are also in Mokoboxane and so are hordes of other useful nobodies in the party.
My good friend MacD Peloetletse is also here. The village is painted red as BDP T-shirts are doled out to villagers, revealing the whole panoply of a well resourced ruling party. There’s also plenty free food sufficient to feed the entire village at the BDP camp. The rally kicks off and when asked to welcome visitors, the village chief struggles to conceal his affiliation or sympathy towards the BDP. His speech is laced with veiled endorsements of the BDP. He implores his subjects to embrace Mma Tshireletso (she’s the campaign manager here) because as her name suggests, she is in Mokoboxane to protect them.
Mpho Balopi takes to the podium carrying stacks of newspapers. He reads out headlines from different local newspapers and translates them to Setswana. All the different newspapers mention the BNF and the problems besieging it. Balopi is having a good time as he tells the rally that according to newspapers, the BNF has split and as such there is no use voting for a party that has split. Another newspaper carries a headline suggesting the BMD could be seeking an alliance with the BDP to which Balopi responds that as the BDP they don’t need any alliance with any party. They would rather you join them and nothing else. Merafhe is brief and doesn’t insult anyone or pick a fight with anyone.
I’m reading a copy of the Sunday Standard and a villager comes to me and asks for the Daily News. I tell her I don’t have the Daily News to which she responds “ga kere ke e o tshwere’ (but you’re holding it). I later discover that in Mokoboxane any newspaper is called ‘Daily News’ and they are not interested in the news in a newspaper. They use it to wrap tobacco. The BDP rally culminates into a motorcade.
I go to the opposition rally just nearby. The attendance is a far cry from what I witnessed at the BDP rally. I’m with Peloetletse and he immediately becomes the target of attack from a lady we found on the microphone. The lady goes on the offensive and accuses Peloetletse of looking down on them and disrespecting them. Peloetletse’s offence: When we arrived at the rally Peloetletse took out the cooler box and emptied the water on the ground. He ignores the lady and removes his camp chair. I’m shocked to note that despite this being the last rally before elections, no high ranking BNF official is in sight. It’s only a few councilors from nearby villages and Freddy Ramodise of the BMD, who together with his team have at Mokoboxane for the past seven weeks campaigning for the BNF. There are no free T-shirts being distributed. The financial constraints are evident here. No decorations at the top table. Not even a box of juice or bottled water. The rally ends and also culminates into a motorcade. Moeti Mohwasa has just arrived. I’m told Isaac Mabiletsa went straight to Kedia, another ward in the by-election. The opposition convoy looks impressive as now more people have arrived from as far as Gaborone and Tonota. Gomolemo Motswaledi and Michael Mzwinila are now in the village. Renowned attorney Malike Mmohe of the BMD arrives from Francistown and his vehicle helps a great deal.
There is only one bar and one restaurant in Mokoboxane. There is a sea of people at the bar. Free beer is flowing to the villagers courtesy of the campaigners. The bar lady tells me she wishes there could be elections in the village every weekend. People drink until the wee hours of the morning. It is while at the bar that I witness the might of the coin. Some people have not been bought beer or given money but they are going to vote the BDP nonetheless because “mathaka ba ba tswere sheleng, bona dikoloi tsa bone fela”(these guys have money, just look at their beautiful cars).
One councilor in Kedia allegedly told villagers that if they don’t vote for the BDP the government is going to cut their water supply. A BNF activist reminds the villagers that they will never see the BDF helicopter again in their village as it was only meant to mesmerize and win their vote. The BDP reports Mokoboxane teachers to the Regional Education officer for accommodating BMD activists. The teachers stay put and continue to accommodate BMD officials arguing that they pay rent and are free to accommodate anyone at their houses.
Saturday 10th March: D-Day arrives. For rural dwellers, if you want their vote, it is upon you to make sure you transport them to the polling station. The BDP were well organized and well resourced. They just distributed their many vehicles across the village and nearby places like Letlhakane and Orapa. While opposition people have to make use of their limited off road vehicles, that doesn’t seem to be a problem with the BDP who have now brought in a truck to fetch people from the farms. Infact a fist fight nearly ensued between the BDP and opposition people over some of the passengers in the truck whom the opposition claimed as theirs.
I couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about because I had thought the main idea was to bring people to the polling station and it was immaterial in whose vehicle they were brought in. Well I’m told that I don’t know the dynamics of rural elections. Apparently you just need to get the voters in your vehicle and tell them that you are going to know if they voted for someone else at the polling booth. And they believe you. So having enough vehicles determines how many people are going to vote for you.
It’s just before 11pm and the BDP supporters at the bar and at their base break into song and jubilation, chanting their party slogans. Someone inside the counting room has sent out an SMS breaking the good news, which immediately spreads across the village. The BDP has garnered 478 votes to BNF’s 469. It’s a painful night for opposition guys. I look at them with empathy. I know the hard work that some of them had put into the campaign and the financial challenges that stood on their way. At times they would struggle to raise a mere 50 Pula to buy a 12.5 Kg bag of mealie meal. At times, being low on fuel, they had to park their campaign car. More painful to them is losing by a small margin of nine. One of them cries uncontrollably as she reveals how a family of nine BCP members point blankly refused to cast their vote because they had been told that their party is not part of the umbrella. Another two BNF members were locked in prison on the eve of elections for allegedly being found in possession of a stolen goat. At the end, the BDP came out victorious as a result of the BNF’s infighting and the opposition’s failure to agree on the umbrella. Only one BNF MP showed up. Perhaps the result would have been different had the other five brought in their vehicles to help ferry the voters? Interestingly some BNF members blame Mabiletsa’s presence for their loss.
The MPs needed to contribute only 200 Pula each to buy a cow and Chibuku for the villagers. Yes it’s no secret, rural dwellers are bought with alcohol and I have witnessed it. The rural dwellers were mesmerized by BDP members Toyota Hilux vans. Who knows how they would have voted had they seen Boko’s Jeep and Saleshando’s Range Rover? Believe me when I say villagers can vote for you just because you drive a nice car and not because they want to ride in it. They vote for you because you seem to have money and not necessarily because you have given them some. That’s politics for you.
