Cde Goabamong Kenneth, Koma who founded the Botswana National Front served as its President for close to a quarter of a century (1977-2001) first cut his teeth on progressive politics while studying at the university of Cape Town in South Africa in the late 1940s when he got involved in the activities of Non-European Unity Movement. He joined the African National Congress in 1949. After graduating with a B.A. in English and Psychology from the same university, he briefly taught at Moeng College and worked as a clerk in medical stores at Serowe. He then proceeded to pursue further studies in the United Kingdom in 1954.
While in Europe he closely followed political developments in the then Bechuanaland Protectorate by maintaining regular correspondence with the likes of Moitlakgola Ngwako, Leetile Raditladi and K.T. Motsete. He returned to Botswana just after this country’s attainment of self Government in mid 1965, armed with an LLB from Nottingham University, Certificate in French, an M.A. in History, Philosophy and Political Economy from Charles University, Prague Czechoslovakia, and Phd in Political Science from the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, the Soviet Union. Being one of the most educated Batswana at the time; he could easily have pursued a successful academic career within the country or in any other progressive African countries or joined the upper echelons of the civil services. He decided to forego a career which would have guaranteed him a good salary and comfortable life-style to devote himself to the struggle for the genuine emancipation of the working people. At the time when the influence of the Sir Seretse Khama, the charismatic and popular first president of this country was at its highest. When involvement in opposition politics promised neither of immediate success or even minimum material comfort comrade Koma demonstrated remarkable political foresight and fortitudes. He devoted himself first to the task of attempting to reorganize and rebuild the opposition through uniting the various parties which had split from the original Botswana Peoples Party prior to the country’s first elections. It was only after the definitive failure of these attempts that he decided to launch the Botswana National Front.
Being a Marxist theoretician of no mean stature, he understood that politics in the last analysis represented the clash of living class forces and interests, and that no lasting unity could be achieved by attempting to fashion a unitary party out of these diverse force. He thus conceived the BNF at a movement within which various forces could pursue their common interests while having the latitude to pursue their distinct interests within the framework of the united Front. This somewhat amorphous mass character of the BNF invested it with a tendency to be afflicted with internal fissures, instability and even occasional upheavals. Nethertheless there is nothing which has occurred in our movements’ history in the past fifty years to make us doubt the correctness of comrade Koma organizational perspective.
At another level comrade Koma conceived politics above all as a project not just of rallying and organising the people around a particular banner and programme for electoral purposes, but as a process of assisting the masses to understand their real interests and aspirations and empowering them to affectively participate in building the party through systematic political education and participation in the formulation and implementation of party programmes and policies. It was on the basis of this understanding that notwithstanding the fact he was the main inspirer and leader in founding the BNF, he was reluctant to assume the mantle of its direct political leadership at first, preferring instead to direct and guide from behind the scenes through concentrating on ideological work ÔÇô writing party documents, contributing to the party news letter Puo-Phaa. Among his published works, Pamphlet No. 1 stands out as a superlative exposition of BNF’s politics and elaboration of its strategy and tactics. It contributed greatly to the education and training of party activists and spreading the party message throughout the country,
Among his lasting contribution to the growth and consolidation of the BNF was his sponsorship of a resolution adopted at the Mochudi Congress in 1975 which directed the party to establish study groups which played a major role in inducting and educating party activists on the party programme policies and ideology, and in inculcating the movements’ values and traditions among party members.
In 1977, comrade Koma was elected party president taking over from Chief Bathoeng Gaseitsiwe who voluntarily relinquished his leadership position. Under his leadership the BNF advocated beneficiation of diamonds, to add more value to our mineral exports and thereby augment our export revenues, develop a broader industrial base, create employment and transfer skills to Batswana. The BDP Government was then so dogmatically fixated to the De Beers idea that Botswana was unsuited to diamond beneficiation. This argument was as preposterous then as it is now as Rre Magang has ably demonstrated in his recent book. Had the BDP Government heeded BNF’s call for the industrial processing of diamonds within the country when it was made 40 years ago, this country would be far more developed than it is now.
Comrade Koma became a Member of Parliament in 1984. The BNF experienced steady rise in popularity and influence, especially among the working class and the rural poor. It energetically took up campaign and agitation around important political and social-economic issues, such as the granting of the franchise to 18 year olds, the setting up of an independent Electoral Commission abolition of schools fees, payment of full salaries to women on maternity leave introduction of old age pensions. In this way it struck a responsive chord among the masses, and was transformed into a real mass movement, laying a basis for the dramatic leap during the 1994 elections, when it gained 13 out of 40 seats, shaking the BDP Government to the core. It was in the wake of this impressive BNF electoral performance that the Government initiated reforms by establishing the Independent Electoral Commission, allowed 18 year olds to vote and introduced old age pensions.
It was also during this period that comrade Koma’s formidable oratorical skills came to the fore. Like other illustrious socialist leaders who were also great masters of oratory and eloquence, his speeches were invariably not embellished with elegantly constructed rhetorical flourish or ornamentation, but were richly imbued with deep thought, solid logic and profound wisdom. In his best element he could hold large audiences spell bound for a solid one to two hours. His stature as a politician and leader grew tremendously to acquire a more polished and luminous form during this period. It was thus not accidental that he was adored and revered by party members.
I parliament he also kept the BDP MPs on their toes. At one point he moved a motion of no-confidence against the Government which was debated the whole night. The story goes that when one of the BDP members was asked by his wife to explain what kept them in parliament for the whole night he retorted ÔÇô “ke ene yo go tweng Koma”; when she further inquired what it was that Koma had said which kept them busy for so long, he said – “o ne a sa bue sepe”.
It does not require much reflection to notice that he meant precisely the opposite. His razor-sharp intellect, vast Marxist erudition, political perspicacity and capacity for theoretical analysis placed him head and shoulders above other party leaders. In early 1998 when discussing the implications of Khama eventual presidency of the BDP he said, “o tla a tsaya sebaka se se khutshwane fela a boa a e phatalatsa, ke raa go e phatalatsa hela mo e leng gore re tsile go tsaa puso e le mo sethareng go sena yo o e tsamaisang”. The developments within the BDP under Khama’s leadership in particular its sharp polirisation on factional lines, its first major split and dismal performance in the past elections eloquently testify to the veritable prophetic genius of Comrade Koma.
He again demonstrated this amazing feat of political lucidity and foresight during the years 1998-1999 after 11 members of parliament had decamped from BNF, to found the BCP. The BCP leaders were loudly proclaiming the BNF’s political demise and boasting that it was headed for a thorough trouncing by the BCP in the coming 1999 Elections. In his response to these claims; he said, “Nnyaa rona re itse gore ba thophilwe e le maFronta, BCP ga e ise e tlhophiwe ke ope, re thomamisa gore Rre Dingake o tla a palama koloi e ntsho ya moeteledipele wa kganetso sebaka se se khutshwane go tswa foo go ta a bo go fedile ka bone”.
The correctness of this prognosis was again proved by the results of the 1999 elections. The BNF won 6 seats while the BCP won only one seat. Comrade Koma also had a way of explaining problems of political strategy and tactics in a manner that made them to be easily grasped and understood by every party member. After its dismal performance in the 1999 elections, the BNF initiated discussions with the BPP and BIP with a view to possibly forge an opposition united front. In the ensuing debates, comrade Koma cautioned BNF members against adopting an overbearing attitude towards other parties they perceived to be smaller and weaker than their own party. He emphasised the importance of treating these parties with respect and decorum to demonstrate political sincerity and willingness to cooperate with them. He said “Ga o kake ware o imelwa ke morwa o bata gore yo mongwe a go thuse go o rwala o bo o mo raa ore tla o nthuse o sennanne, ka gore fa o rialo ga a kake a go thusa, fa e le sengwe o ka go o okeletsa”. But there was something about Koma the man that was inexpressibly finer than anything he wrote. Those who had occasion to come within a close radius of his life could not but deeply feel and respond to his pungent presence, and were tremendously enriched in the process.
He was also an able organiser. Not only during the formative stage of the party’s history, but even throughout his tenure as party president, he maintained a close and regular contact with party activists throughout the country. He was also not averse to traversing the length and breadth of the country to gauge the mood and views of party members on various party issues, to gauge the mood and views of party members on various party issues, to guide and inspire activists and defend the party against its adversaries. After its founding the BCP launched a vicious campaign of vilification and slander against him, accusing of all sorts of political crimes. He rose to the challenge and travelled to various party regions to refute BCP’s claims, pep up the morale of activists and defend the BNF against BCP’s political onslaught . It was primarily on account of his political resilience and organizational astuteness that the BNF did not completely collapse during this period.
Outside politics, Comrade Koma was a keen educationist who understood the value and importance of education in the development of society. Well educated as he was, he had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and maintained a life-long commitment to continual learning and self-education.
CONTINUED FROM PG 8
He was an assiduous reader, who convered almost daily with thinkers from across ages and continents. Socrates, Aristotle, Xenophon, Ibu Khaldum, Hegel, Spinoza, Montesquieu, Rosseau, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Marcus Garvey, Padmore, Nkrumah and Danite were some of the thinkers from whom he regularly sought counsel, inspiration and sheer delight. He despised intellectual mediocrity, and could be merciless and trenchant on scholars who in his view did not pass the mark. Commenting on some book published by one local Professor, he once said : “Ke gore Boprofesa jo jwa seAfrika ke promotion fela, motho wa teng le fa a re o a kwala, o commuta elementary school boy mistakes dilo tse rona re sa bolong go di thalosa ba kgakala thata le go di utusisa. Hei! Are BNF ke a socialist party, o bua dilo hela.”
Using his extensive contacts in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union where he had studied for almost seven years, he organised scholarships for scores of Batswana to pursue their studies there. K.K. Motshidisi, O.K. Menyatso, Mareledi Giddie, Conference Lekoma, Henderson Tlhowe, Harry Tlale and others benefitted from these scholarships. In the early 1970s he had also established a secondary school in Mahalapye, where he taught for sometime. A number of students who could not get admitted to Government secondary schools had the opportunity of pursuing their secondary education at that school. He wrote a pamphlet on problems of Education in Africa entitled, “Education in Black Africa.”.
Like any individual, comrade Koma was not infallible, had faults and imperfections and was on occasion prone to commit mistakes. But weighed on the scale of History these pale into insignificance especially when juxtaposed with his colossal talent and other formidable leadership attributes. Comrade Koma undoubtedly belongs to a pantheon of the finest and greatest men and women that this country has even produced. A full life story of this outstanding political giant has to be written. It would not only shed considerable light on a large chapter of our History, but serve as an invaluable source of theoretical instruction and political inspiration for progressive activists in Botswana and Southern Africa.
BNF 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE
