Botswana’s political system is distinguished by its multiplicity of political parties. For the longest period, electoral competitions have always involved a good number of tiny parties whose participation largely served to legitimize the Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) maladministration.
This however changed with the formation of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in 2012. While opposition parties decided to band together in their fight against the intransigent BDP, and while the UDC did usher in an exciting brand of politics, it never really exorcised the ghost of fragmentation of opposition parties.
Nevertheless, the public excitement elicited by the attainment of the erstwhile elusive goal of uniting opposition blinded observers from questioning some issues were being rushed through without adequate.
Individual opposition parties that were keen on being part of the coalition also had to toe the line for fear of anticipated vengeance of a voting public that has grown tired of wasted opportunities. Those parties that voiced concerns about some processes and some manner of making decisions threatened with exclusion.
As a result, a lot of contentious issues were simply brushed aside without deeper interrogation if only the so-called people’s project was finalized. Thus, it was inevitable that some of the issues that were simply by-passed for political expediency were always going to come back to haunt the coalition.
This essay argues that whereas UDC’s problems may relate to its nature as an assortment of weird characters, a bowl of contrasting potpourri, the major cause of UDC’s problems is the condescending attitude and behavior of a member party which considers itself the formateur and natural leader of the opposition.
This argument derives from the premise that since the BNF has immeasurable influence in the UDC to a point where we can safely hold that the BNF has in actual fact annexed the UDC, it can be reasoned that the coalition is a victim of inherited behaviors because it is saddled with the arrogance and frailty it inherited from the BNF.
It is no denying that the BNF is one of the oldest opposition parties in the country. Not only is the BNF the oldest, it is also the undisputed heavyweight of opposition politics having crowned political luminaries too many to count.
The BNF has grown to become a household name and has always been regarded as the natural political home for intellectuals mainly on account of its association with the revolutionary rhetoric.
The BNF is no doubt an established brand in opposition trenches, boasting of flamboyant politicians and patronized by pedantic, boisterous teens and decent geezers.
The BNF is indeed a celebrated movement mainly for its left wing politics and resilience in a cruel political environment that has ended the careers of many opposition activists.
Yet, it is also a fact that the BNF has sacrificed a lot of resources to unite opposition parties but it is also a hard fact that the BNF has done indefinable damage to the image of the opposition unity on account of its big brother attitude.
Like an old, experienced, grumpy prominent witch who always want things her way, the BNF hold to the view that as a ‘front’, it is the natural leader of any coalition of opposition parties in the country and that must and will remain so regardless of the changing political landscape.
Delivering a Mass-BNF Public Lecture titled ‘The Political life and contribution of Dr Kenneth Koma’ in 2020, the BNF and UDC president Advocate Duma Boko is reported to have highlighted these sentiments perhaps as a reminder to other parties in the coalition that it is for the BNF to pull the strings.
This is the view that many in the BNF religiously subscribe to, be it student movements in tertiary institutions, the party’s youth league, women’s wing and the unofficial yet very powerful and immensely influential Fear fokol. In doing so, the BNF has awarded itself the status of a supreme member in the coalition where other members have to behave like young witches undergoing training.
On the surface of it, the arrangement to have the BNF as the leader of the coalition was indeed a logical thought considering its preeminence in opposition politics, the human tools in their stable and its militant politics that appeal to hustlers from all walks of life.
In spite of this huge responsibility, the BNF is unstable, prone to chaos and organizationally volatile. It has a longstanding tradition of internal conflicts. In the tradition of the BNF, every elective congress brings a crippling crisis that takes the party many miles backward either in the resignation and expulsion of scores of distinguished cadres or the more damaging violent splits.
These occasional fights for power in the BNF are more than what we may characterize as operationalization of internal democracy. The battles are in actual fact for the control of the party from party leaders who had become untouchable and mischievously keen to anoint their preferred successor.
The BNF has always been embroiled in violent destructive factional battles from the Concerned Group installment that ultimately birthed the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) through to the Party Line chapter that gave birth to the New Democratic Front (NDF) and the Temporary Platform that fought for the coalition’s use of the BNF symbol up to the present phase where a repeat of history cannot be ruled out.
Many in the BNF used to say that Koma was the BNF and the BNF was Koma and anyone who dared challenge him for the party presidency was demonized as BDP hired gun.
Whereas today’s melody is slightly different, the argument that the aspirant to the BNF presidency Dr Bucs Molatlhegi is BDP/BCP lapdog or that the incumbent president has made huge personal sacrifices to build the BNF and UDC and must be given another bite at the cherry has the same effect of establishing the BNF as a personal fiefdom.
The BNF has a proven culture of indiscipline and carries the baggage of political delinquency from its many internal skirmishes and these have been transposed into the coalition wherein the BNF President who is also UDC President, uses a cabal of smart hardliners to boss and belittle others.
The reality is that the BNF delights at the opportunity to lead the opposition coalition and is using the powers and privileges inherit in leadership positions to get even with other opposition parties especially its splinter group- the BCP.
It is a fact that the BNF has never gotten over with the formation of the BCP by some of its legislators. Right from its formation, the BCP was met with extreme hostility and violence by BNF members who literally attacked BCP officials during political rallies to a point where BCP had to request for police escort.
While the situation has improved, mistrust still exists between the two parties. The BCP broke away from the BNF at a time when many observers believed that regime change was a reality at the next general election.
Thus, the BNF accuses the BCP of rocking the ship and they are still angry to this day. The BNF still feel betrayed by the BCP and consider the BCP as traitors and possibly eager to retaliate in whatever manner conceivable.
There is ample evidence to support this assertion. At the Extra-Ordinary congress in Mahalpaye in May 2012, the BNF accused the media of mortgaging themselves to what they called the demagogic irrationalities of the BCP-BDP axis.
When the BCP graced the inauguration of President Dr Masisi after the disputed 2019 general election, the BNF felt back-stabbed while the BCP believed that the BNF was jealous of its performance within the UDC.
While the BNF takes the BCP for backstabbers, the BCP on the other hand treats the UDC as a naughty puppet of the BNF hence will never kowtow to the BNF/UDC orders. The BCP has consistently made calls for reform inside the UDC and this has tended to offend the BNF.
In demanding democratization of the UDC, the BCP has acquired the reputation of a problem child, always nagging to find an excuse to leave the family home, especially since other parties feign indifference.
The animosity between the two parties is well typified by the reported feud between their leaders Duma Boko and Dumelang Saleshando. The two leaders will deny that they ever were not in speaking terms. But the truth is that scapegoating, mutual loss of trust and backstabbing characterizes their relationship and has infected their followers.
Thus, we cannot detach coalition matters from interparty cooperation and conflict. Opposition activists can rant and rave as much as they care but as things stand, there is no going forward until governance issues in the UDC are adequately addressed.
The BNF cravings to consolidate its position as the Godfather of opposition politics and the BCP’s refusal to be someone’s snack hold the UDC to ransom.
However, none of these two parties may walk away from the UDC which means that the UDC won’t be imploding any time soon. Instead, it will embark on a choreographed journey that delivers high school-styled oration that flatters to deceive.
Unfortunately, in the long run voters may get disillusioned and perhaps conclude that UDC is a flop, an unsustainable scam.
