What age got to do with it?
Pamela Dube | Monday March 7, 2022 06:00
Disqualified on the basis of age? Hai madoda! This indicates how far the 'new' BNF has deviated from the path of political consciousness when a frivolity is made a factor in the debate about the candidacy for the office of party leader.
It has been weirdly suggested that since Baatlhodi ‘Bucs’ Molatlhegi is six years older than Adv. Duma Boko, somehow that should rule him out of the contest for BNF presidency. The most qualified, experienced, and prepared candidate for leadership since the founding father Kenneth Koma is being hounded for merely exercising his democratic right as a lifelong cadre and member in good standing of 40 years.
In those 40 years, Bucs' card never 'got lost'. Silly me! A graduate of the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science, the founding chairman of MASS (the very same organ that today took offense to his candidacy citing age), an activist who has organised at grassroots level and stood in the sun to vote for the BNF, is said to be unqualified to lead the party he has dedicated his life to! Can anything be more bizarre?
Let us look at the average age of the leaders of some parties that are BNF ideological allies around the world. A cadre who rose through the ranks, Xi Jinping, was aged 59 when he assumed leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In the Communist Party of Cuba, Raul Castro was 80 when he succeeded Fidel Castro in 2011, and went on to lead successfully for 10 years. The current leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, was 58 when he took over two years ago. Cyril Ramaphosa assumed leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) at the age of 64.
Bucs turns 59 on December 8, as he said at his press conference last week, which was Jinping's age when he assumed leadership of the CCP. Can anybody argue that any of the leaders of these fraternal parties is a bad leader on account of age? By the way, where is the leader's maximum age prescribed in the BNF constitution?