It is not clear these days just who really is in charge at Botswana Congress Party.At one time it would seem like it is the powerful, unelected and thus unaccountable grey-haired grandees like Mike Dingake and Gobe.
Matenge who run the show.Though still somewhat politically disoriented following the mortification he received from the General Elections late last year, at another moment it seems like it is the genteel Dumelang Saleshando who is in charge.
And at yet another moment it would seem like BCP is an outfit run and controlled by one Chillyboy Rakgare.The next moment it would seem like the party is run by a hard-line troika of Vain Mamela, Phagenyana Phage and Lotty Manyepeza.Of the entire crowd, Rakgare has by far been the greatest revelation.Post the 2014 General elections, Rakgare has become a formidable powerhouse inside the BCP.
Even in his wildest dreams during his days at the BDP where he often cuddled with President Ian Khama it is unlikely that the young fella could have foreseen himself wielding the kind of power he would later exert upon his defection to the BCP ÔÇô the power for which, it must be pointed out, he worked so little to attain.Rakgare has taken to the BCP with the zeal of a new convert ÔÇô which by all accounts he really is.The trouble though is that in his zeal to fit in, Rakgare often behaves like an erstwhile atheist who has suddenly discovered that God exists ÔÇô he sets aside all rules of protocol and etiquette.A newcomer inside the BCP, officially, Rakgare holds the position of leader of the party’s youth wing. But listening to him speak, a visitor from Mars would easily mistake him for overall Leader of the party.
To be fair to Rakgare, he has identified a power vacuum and he is using his bounty energies to fill it.Recently he made a show of who would contest which position at the oncoming BCP elective Congress; Taolo Lucas for Vice President and Dumelang Saleshando for Vice President.Nobody was favoured with the criteria used in the selection.Slates are unheard of in the BCP folklore where concessions and compromises are invariably always promoted above outright contests and combats.Clearly Rakgare has imported with himself into the BCP many of the guerrilla tactics often associated with the Botswana Democratic Party.
It took the tantrums of a BCP old horse, Batisani Maswibilili to get the party to tighten its leash on Rakgare, including a thinly veiled reprimand by the party leader, Dumelang Saleshando.
Maswibilili threatened to climb-down on his earlier promised retirement as a way of putting paid to Rakgare’s ulterior agenda.Much recently, as the BCP Central Congress was still seized with debating the matter internally, Rakgare pontificated that the BCP would as a matter of fact be contesting Barolong constituency by-election.It took a figure no less senior than Kesitegile Gobotswang to reassure the public that no official decision had been made.
Dr Gobotswang is BCP Secretary General, and has been for a long time.At the moment Gobotswang cuts a somewhat isolated figure. It cannot be mere coincidence that the arrival of Rakgare inside the BCP and his rise came at a time when Dr Gobotswang saw his stock fall to an all time low.Inside the BCP, Gobotswang has always been seen as much senior to Taolo Lucas. But in Rakgare’s worldview, Dr Gobotswang does not make the cut to become Vice President. These are indeed the interesting times for the BCP.In the next month or two, the country will come to a standstill as Barolong Constituency goes for a parliamentary by-election.
If the results from October last year are anything to go by, the constituency is too close to call.The Umbrella for Democratic Change would want to keep the Constituency, if not to maintain momentum, then at least to prove that their performance last year was not a fluke.The BDP on the other hand would want to win back the Constituency to reassert its national hegemony.BCP chances of victory are close to zero.
Yet its prospects to be a kingmaker are huge. If BCP stands and the BDP wins on account of vote splitting, Rakgare will be pardoned to feel like the victory is his.A UDC activist recently told me how much easier it would be for their party to go into the by-election without having to deal with potential distraction emanating from BCP.“My view is that UDC should talk to BCP to back off. This fight should really be between UDC and BDP,” said the UDC guy before adding resignedly; “but under its current state who exactly does one reach out to for a conversation with the BCP?”I had no answer. In the meantime Rakgare calls the shots. And his stock is on the rise.
