They say politics is a game of numbers. Indeed it is. A political party needs to outnumber other parties at the polls to secure a victory. Of recent, the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) has been experiencing a series of defections, meaning a minus in their numbers. Any political party that experiences deduction from its numbers has to be worried because like I have already mentioned, you need numbers to win elections. It is for that reason the BMD has to be worried. The other question that follows could be, should the BMD despair? My answer is no. I will explain why throwing in the towel should not cross their minds as yet.
When the BMD was established some two years ago, I wrote on this very space that they should concentrate their efforts and energies towards attracting hordes of ordinary citizens into their fold and not only focus on attracting the so-called ‘Big Fish’. A political party needs lots of ‘sardines’ and fewer ‘big fish’ for it to survive and win the elections. Many people, including members of the BMD, appear to be losing hope in the success of their party just because some of their so-called ‘Big Fish’ are swimming out. If losing a few members marks the end of a political organization, then all our political parties would not be in existence. Show me just one party which has not lost a single member to other parties and I will show you the road to Sbrana Psychiatric Clinic for a quick checkup.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) lost nine Members of Parliament to the BMD. Yes, three of them have since retraced their steps back into the BDP. Remember Philip Makgalemele, Patrick Masimolole and Samson Guma Moyo at some pointed shouted “shapa BMD shapa”? Did the BDP close shop just because it had lost some MP’s? Hell no. It remained the biggest party in the country. Perhaps a good example for the BMD would be the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) which, just like the BMD, is an offshoot of another party, the Botswana National Front (BNF). After its formation, the BCP was hit by a serious tsunami of defections which saw almost all its founders abandoning it and returning to their former party, the BNF. It even lost its former president, Otlaadisa Koosaletse. It lost its former Secretary General Mokgweetsi Kgosipula. People like Paul Rantao, who was regarded as a political heavy weight or ‘big fish’ to use the description adopted nowadays, was among the many people who left the BCP. Despite having lost such heavy weights, the BCP persevered and has now grown to the extent of claiming to be the big brother of opposition politics. The BCP crossed the floor with eleven BNF seats and managed to retain only one after the general elections. Did they give up? Hell no. They persevered and after twelve years of existence, they managed to win five parliamentary seats and quite a large number of council seats across the country.
Now if the BCP managed to prevail over such an avalanche of defections, why can’t the BMD, with only two years of existence, draw inspiration from the BCP? The BNF also gave birth to the BCP but went on to recover from their post-natal depression, the same way the BDP managed to lose the ‘baby fat’ after giving birth to the BMD. You see for me really, if I were any of these political parties, I would not have sleepless nights over losing a few of these so-called ‘Big Fish’.
I would be worried to lose a lot of sardines, in this case the ordinary members. For every Guma Moyo lost, I would strive to register a thousand Jack and Jill. Look, the good thing about elections is, the IEC people do not give a hoot about your social status when they count the ballot papers. There is no point system in elections where a millionaire’s vote is worth 3 points and a destitute’s vote is worth 1 point. Every vote cast amounts to exactly that: one vote. Pilane and Dow could be celebrated lawyers but their combined votes count as two votes. Satar Dada and Guma Moyo could be millionaires but their votes have the same value as those of poverty stricken Morongwa and Moleleke at Mokoboxane. One person is worth one vote regardless of their social standing. It is for this reason that I advice opposition parties not to dwell too much on recruiting the so-called ‘big fish’ because they don’t bring anything out of the regular at the polls. I know every party wants them because of their financial muscles. Look, having many people with lots of money in the party can also bring problems. People with money have the tendency to want things done their way just because they have money. Just because a person contributes more money to the party coffers, he ends up wanting to have full control of the party. For example, Guma Moyo has more money than Gomolemo Motswaledi. Now imagine a situation where Motswaledi, as party president, can’t make any decisions that do not have the approval of Guma just because Guma finances the party. That’s an example. This is why I say these so-called ‘Big Fish’ with big bank accounts have the tendency to hold their parties at ransom.
I agree money plays a vital role in winning elections. You need money to campaign and sell your party to the electorates. You need money to ‘bribe’ the electorates with freebees. However, I still maintain that money is not everything in politics. If you do not have money to ‘buy’ votes, just go out to the people, introduce your party and provide political education to the electorates. A lot of political education is needed, especially in rural areas. The problem with our opposition parties is, the leaders spend a lot of time in Gaborone and then cry foul when rural dwellers vote for the BDP. Take it from me, a lot of rural dwellers vote for the BDP for all the wrong reasons and it is up to the opposition to go out there and enlighten them. The opposition guys must make sure that whenever President Khama leaves a village, they arrive to counter his statements.
When Khama tells people of Manxotai that his government is going to buy Ipelegeng workers fat cakes and soup, they must tell the people that they deserve chicken from Nandos, even if they don’t.
Afterall Batswana believe in lies and that is why they continue to love the BDP for its lies. Yes I said it. One BDP councilor once said at a rally that if the BDP is removed from power, the opposition won’t have money to run the country and since the BDP has managed to fool the rural folk into believing government money is BDP money, they believed him. The opposition never came forth to tell people that the BDP councilor was telling lies. Right now government is said to be preparing to purchase radio sets for the elderly. This is meant to allow the elderly folk in rural areas to feed on BDP propaganda through Radio Botswana. The BDP has realized that the opposition relies on the private media to spread their message and people in rural areas have no access to the private media. Opposition parties must go around and tell Batswana that the BDP is not doing them any favor when it implements some of these social services. People need to know that the BDP is only doing what every party would and has to do once in power. The BDP is smart and our opposition parties need only to be smarter.
