Michael Dingake is one of the politicians that I highly respect. He has contributed immensely to the political development of our republic. I always read his articles and he inspires me to continue contributing to political debates. I always tell myself that if someone who is old enough to be my grandfather can still contribute to political debates with so much zeal, then I have no excuse of not participating.
But I must say that he misdirected himself when he responded to my article entitled, “The BNF and BCP are hiding behind their fingers” which appeared on this column on 11th January 2012. Writing in his column in the Mmegi newspaper dated 20th January 2012, rre Dingake faults me and all people who wrote articles about the collapse of the umbrella for failing to state “facts.”
I think rre Dingake is either economical with the truth, frustrated or simply in denial. While he criticizes us for failing to provide “facts,” the only one that he states in his column is that the BMD did not compromise on the issue of incumbency which resulted in the collapse of umbrella project. He deliberately decided not to tell us other important “facts” that contributed to the collapse of the umbrella. For example, the BCP did not compromise on the issue of primary elections. BCP leaders abhor primary elections. Compromise is the way forward for them. Dumelang Saleshando has publicly stated that primary elections are divisive and cause unnecessary chaos within the party. I have never heard rre Dingake stating anything to the contrary. So I can safely assume that this is a “fact” that he knows but is not comfortable to discuss because it portrays his party in bad light. Another “fact” that rre Dingake decided not to discuss is that the BCP wanted to dish out constituencies that it does not control. These are constituencies that are either held by the BMD or the BDP. By appropriating itself the role of a distributor of constituencies held by other political parties, the BCP was obviously displaying a big brother mentality, something that rre Dingake is not willing to admit. I know that it is very painful and frustrating for the BCP not to be holding the position of Leader of Opposition when they are much older than the BMD. For the BCP, it is age that matters the most. That is why they are now trying every trick in the book to remove Botsalo Ntuane from that position. Unfortunately, their plan failed last week Friday and were left with an egg on their face. The big brother mentality will never take the BCP anywhere. They just need to admit that the BMD exist. If the 40% threshold that was agreed on by all parties, that the BCP used to allocate constituencies was based on facts, I expected rre Dingake to give us examples of constituencies where the BCP or any other opposition party obtained 40% of the votes in past elections only for them to win the same in the next elections. Such examples would assist us to appreciate where the BCP was coming from and where they were heading. Taolo Lucas, Dr. Gobotswang, Vain Mamela, Morgan Moseki and Habaudi Hobona among others, are still not in parliament despite trying their luck several times. Why?
Rre Dingake took offence to the statement that I made to the effect that the leaders of the BMD are not political lightweights. He dismisses my opinion with contempt and asks sarcastically: “what political battles has the BMD fought and won in their 18 months? The manner in which he poses his question clearly indicates that even though he is a political veteran, there are simple issues that he cannot comprehend. He seems to suggest that one’s political pedigree can only be assessed by looking at the number of years that they have spent in opposition ranks. If this is the manner in which he assesses other politicians, then I must say that it is a flawed and misleading way of looking at the issue. He is deliberately misdirecting himself.
One thing that rre Dingake must appreciate is that we cannot take away from people the experience that they have accumulated over time, be it in politics or any other profession. For example, the ten years university teaching and research experience that I have cannot be taken away from me by anyone even if I were to resign from the University of Botswana today.
Who does not know that Botsalo Ntuane was a member of the BDP central committee when he was doing his final year at the University of Botswana more than fifteen years ago? At that time, Dumelang Saleshando was an unknown package in the BNF. Who does not know that Ntuane was the BDP Executive Secretary where he actively participated in the formulation and implementation of strategies that the BDP used to deny opposition parties such as the BCP an opportunity to taste state power? Who does not know that it is the likes of Ntuane, Motswaledi and Motlhale who worked in a very hostile environment in the early 1990s to make GS 26 more visible at the University of Botswana? Who, in his/her right mind, can really question the political credentials of Nehemiah Modubule? I believe that when rre Dingake joined the BNF, Modubule was already an active member of the party. All the BCP MPs found him in parliament and rre Dingake wants to tell us that he is political amateur. That all the founders of the BMD are new in opposition politics is not in dispute. But to dismiss them as political novices who have no political experience is wrong, disingenuous and unfortunate especially when such an assessment is made by a political veteran. Their political life did not start when they formed the BMD. Some of them were already serving in BDP committees when rre Dingake joined the BNF and when he left to form the BCP. Rre Dingake was a member of the ANC and the BNF before he formed the BCP. Will it be fair for us to assess his political credentials by focusing on the things that he has done only as a BCP member? In other words, can we totally disregard the political experience that he gained when he was in the ANC and the BNF and only judge him as member of the BCP? I don’t think so. There are people within the BCP who hold leadership positions even though they started taking part in partisan politics just before the 2009 elections. Bagalatia Arone is one of them. Interestingly, rre Dingake is happy with him but has a problem with people who have been actively involved for more than fifteen years. Kentse Rammidi joined the BNF less than six months ago. Does that make him a political lightweight? I don’t think so. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Dr Mothusi teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
