Podiephatshwa, a loyal BPP
MQONDISI DUBE
Correspondent
| Friday June 6, 2008 00:00
He is an aging politician, who has been left behind by a new generation, and his voice no longer resonates with the same authority it had years ago.Podiephatshwa cuts a lonely figure in his rundown home in Botshabelo location. He cannot identify a figure arriving across his side coffee table, with his eyes behind dimmers, which cover part of his bearded face. He admits that age has caught up with him, his memory is fading and his eyesight, failing.
However, remnants of his vibrancy are still evident. He can still force high-pitched laughter, muster enough energy to narrate his long stories about his stay in South Africa and how he joined a political movement that swept the country at the height of a highly charged political period.
Unlike other politicians who have criss-crossed political parties, Podiephatshwa has remained loyal to the BPP, giving the party a decent 58 years of service, having joined in 1950.Born in Tonota in 1929, young Podiephatshwa joined the great trek to South Africa in the 1940s in search of greener pastures. It was during this period that African migrants flocked to mines in South Africa in search of employment. However, Podiephatshwa chose the Johannesburg route, popularly known as Egoli, where he worked as a dispenser at various hospitals.
It was during this time that he fell in love with politics. It was a time when Sophiatown and other black townships were hotbeds of opposition politics. This was the period when black movements were formed to oppose the draconian apartheid regime.
I was inspired by African National Congress (ANC) figures like Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. Together with a group of other young Batswana men working in South Africa we joined the black movement, Podiephatshwa said.
Podiephatshwa joined the BPP at the invitation of its founding members, Phillip Matante and K.T. Motsete as the party's national organising secretary. He was responsible for mobilising Batswana in South Africa to join the party with a view of liberating Botswana from colonial rule.Podiephatshwa recalls that during his stay in South Africa, the BPP established eight branches in areas like Sophiatown, Pimville, Meadowlands, Depsonville, Parktown and Orlando. Former Botswana Congress Party (BCP) president Michael Dingake organised the central Johannesburg branch after Podiephatshwa recruited him.
However, their activism was largely confined to Botswana as the apartheid regime in South Africa had banned political activities. We used to come home for conferences and other meetings because of a ban in South Africa. The apartheid regime thought that we were fuelling the ANC, Podiephatshwa said.In 1963, South Africa's government deported Podiephatshwa and other activists, as the colonial rulers took a radical stance against black political activism.When he arrived in Botswana, Podiephatshwa continued in his role as the party's organising secretary and travelled the length and breadth of the country mobilising structures. He recalls an incident, which almost claimed his life in one of his many sojourns in a bid to grow the BPP, whose popularity at this stage had soared considerably. Podiephatshwa said the incident occurred during an outreach mission to Gantsi where after the vehicle they were travelling in developed mechanical problems. It was at this point that I discovered that the loud speaker had fallen off the vehicle. I thought it was not far off from where we were and I started off to look for it, Podiephatshwa narrated.He said he travelled 32kilometres looking for the speaker and by the time he found it, he collapsed. Somehow, he said he managed to garner enough energy to trudge back but got lost along the way.
Phodiephatshwa found himself in the wilderness, at the mercy of the prowling hungry lions that roam the area near the Namibia border.He said he couldnt sleep that night as he could see the lions, ready to devour him, with only a thin fence being his saviour. Phodiephatshwa said he lasted two days in the bush without food and ended up drinking his urine.Weak and pale, Podiephatshwa wrote on piece of paper which he hung on a fence that separated Botswana and Namibia and collapsed.When he came to, he found some Boers who had mistaken him for a freedom fighter from South Africa but quickly realised, through his passport that he was a Motswana.He was rescued but too weak to continue with his mission to address rallies. I sent three men to address rallies in Kalkfontein while I remained under observation. However, I later followed them when I recovered, Podiephatshwa said.During this time, he said he remained single as his focus was on politics and not having a family.
BPP contested the 1966 council elections and managed to win a number of seats although the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) provided tough opposition.Podiephatshwa won a council seat in Francistown and the likes of Matante, T.W. Motlhagodi and Kenneth Nkwa won parliamentary seats.He said his party's biggest undoing was that the BDP co-opted the majority of candidates who had lost the local elections through special nomination.After three years, Podiephatshwa, who was born in Tonota but hails from Tobane, tried his luck in Tswapong where he lost the parliamentary election to a BDP candidate.Podiephatshwa said he caught a BDP member stuffing ballot papers into one of the ballot boxes.I did not hesitate, I grabbed him by his manhood and kicked him. (Former Botswana president Ketumile) Masire warned the person that he would be killed by a tsotsi from Johannesburg, Podiephatshwa said. Most young men returning from Egoli during those days were notoriously regarded as hard living characters who had adopted the fast lifestyle of Johannesburg.Although the BPP continued with its good showing, Podiephatshwa believes that the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back came when Mpho Motsamai broke away from the party.Motsamai formed the Botswana Independence Party (BIP), which according to Podiephatshwa, had a larger following predominately in the Bayei tribe. He believes Motsamai's breakaway left a polarised BPP at the mercy of the BDP.Podiephatshwa said BDP activists, who urged people not to vote for a divided party, used the split as cannon fodder.For Podiephatshwa his resolve remained unbroken in the face of trying times within the BPP. He stood for a parliamentary seat in Tswapong but again the BDP prevailed. Podiephatshwa admits that he did not devote sufficient time to his campaign, instead, saying he helped other BPP candidates in other constituencies. As a result, my campaign suffered. I was beaten hands down and I had no complaints about it, Podiephatshwa said.The grey-haired politician, known for his radical speeches, said further setbacks followed for the BPP when Motlhagodi died and Mochudi fell to the BDP.
In fighting broke out in Mochudi. We tried to calm the situation by telling our supporters that there were rebels within the party who were being used by the BDP, but to no avail, Podiephatshwa explained.He said when Knight Marie took over the leadership of the party from the late Matante tribalism had taken centre stage and this led to the decline in fortunes for the party. Maripe then said the party would only field candidates in the North East and that is when people started perceiving the BPP as a regional party, Podiephatshwa said.He was asked to stand for elections in Selebi-Phikwe but he lost dismally. The veteran politician warns that the BPP will not be resuscitate unless the leadership does away with regionalism and tribalism. He said the party leadership was not active to establish structures countrywide as there are dormant members.He predicts that the opposition would have it tough trying to dislodge the BDP with new President Ian Khama's people-centred initiatives. The opposition should be careful. They should be mindful of Khama's initiatives, which I believe pose a threat to the opposition's positions. He said although he remains a member of the BPP, he now devotes most of his time to his role as a Church Deacon.
Podiephatshwa said he has managed to stick with the BPP for more than half a century because he does not follow individuals. I don't follow an individual. I follow my principles, he said.Podiephatshwa, who was married to former councillor, Susan Podiephatshwa has five children. He divorced in 1987 and has remained single since then.