Deja vu as Molefhi challenges another VP
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday June 20, 2022 06:00
This year as the BDP heads for an elective congress in August, Molefhi will try his luck again this time against a different VP. He will challenge the Boteti West legislator, Slumber Tsogwane.
Odds may change but the circumstances are still the same because Tsogwane, just like Masisi then, is the VP and BDP chairperson.
With Tsogwane having Masisi’s blessing, that might change the stakes for Molefhi but the latter seems determined to finally defeat a sitting VP against all odds.
“Dear Democrats,” For everything there is a season” Ecclesiastes 3:1.The BDP constitution provides for seasons in the life and affairs of the party. Every two years we are called upon to renew our party structures from cell through to the central committee. For this season, the process has been on going across the country ahead of the elective national congress scheduled for August 2022. It is in this regard that, in accordance with Article 30.1 of the BDP constitution, I Molefhi present myself as candidate for the chairmanship position of the party. I count on your support and vote,” Molefhi confirmed his candidacy to his fellow BDP members this week.
Back in 2017, Molefhi was facing an uphill battle against Masisi’s affluent ‘Team Dubai’ which swept the stakes scoring highly in all the contested positions including additional members, leaving the rival lobby group of Molefhi literally empty-handed.
Masisi thumped his rival by garnering an emphatic 769 votes to Molefhi’s 261 votes, a margin of 508 votes. The electoral college then stood at about 1,078. Masisi’s Team Dubai frustrated and defeated Molefhi’s Marakanelo team.
Back then, Molefhi was the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development and currently he is not even a Member of Parliament (MP). Molefhi in 2018 lost Selebi-Phikwe East constituency to Amogelang Mojuta, who amassed 1,307 to his 1,136 votes during the BDP primary elections (Bulela Ditswe).
By entering the race for the chairmanship this year, obviously Molefhi doesn’t want the repeat of the Dubai 2017 debacle and 2018 Bulela Ditswe shame.
With Tsogwane not exactly popular within the already fractured BDP, the late arrival of Molefhi brings competition. By entering the race again Molefhi has already shown that he is not the one to be fazed by competition. But, as history has taught Molefhi, the chairmanship race is the kind that needs strategy.
Back then Masisi’s team Dubai showed him that having rich players on one’s team is very important. One of the main strengths of Masisi’s lobby group in 2017 was that it was endowed with all the riches that managed to attract more members into its fold.
The coveted position for the party chairpersonship has never been an easy one especially when one is facing a sitting VP. In 2003, then VP Ian Khama defeated incumbent Ponatshego Kedikilwe for the chairmanship of the BDP at a congress held in Gantsi receiving 512 votes against Kedikilwe’s 219.
Khama's mission was apparently to defuse factional fighting in the party and give the BDP a new vigour and that is possibly what Molefhi himself intends to ride on. That was 19 years ago and Khama had been backed for the post by former president Festus Mogae. Similarly, in the 2015 Mmadinare Congress, Masisi thrashed former Botswana Ambassador to the US, Tebelelo Seretse with 582 votes to 219 for the same position and just like his predecessor, Masisi was the VP and received the backing of a sitting president.
However BDP veteran Daniel Kwelagobe’s situation in April 2008, when he was elected chairperson by the BDP central committee (CC), was a bit different because he was not a sitting VP. He was elected chairperson to fill the void left by Khama who had ascended to the party leadership and State presidency earlier that month. A deal was made in the BDP for Kwelagobe to assume the party chairmanship without challenge from then VP, the late Mompati Merafhe.
In light of the above, basically no one has ever defeated a sitting VP for the chairpersonship seat in the history of the BDP. In 2013, it was also different when wealthy businessman-cum-politician Guma Moyo walloped a Cabinet minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi to get the BDP top job in Maun. The former Tati East MP got 467 votes to Venson-Motoi’s 402 to succeed Kwelagobe.
Kwelagobe publicly supported Moyo’s opponent, but the latter registered a historic feat for a person who was relatively newcomer to the BDP. Moyo’s win was an indication that one can win against all odds, but the fact is that he was not competing against a sitting VP who has all the resources and the backing of the President and leader of the party.
Kwelagobe and Moyo changed the setting because the BDP chairmanship has been seen as a preserve of the VP and now Molefhi intends to make history by defeating Tsogwane. The latter only got there by default because Masisi had ascended to the presidency in 2018.
But Tsogwane is in a good position to defend his position because his opponent Molefhi is entering the race late and has not been visibly in the party. In the recent past, he has been linked to the BDP splinter-party Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
Molefhi has not exactly associated with the BPF in any way and had always shied away from making comments about his political future. Now, the declaration that he will contest for the top post is perhaps a way to prove to doubters that he is still a BDP diehard.
His advantage is that he comes at a time when the BDP has already been shaken by factions and fallouts. Therefore, Molefhi’s role could be that of a reconciler to smash the factions, exactly like Khama did in 2003. After Masisi’s fallout with the BDP secretary-general (SG) Mpho Balopi it is said that some of the latter’s sympathisers will stand with Molefhi.
With his experience in the 2015 and 2017 race, Molefhi is not entering uncharted waters but it is not going to be an easy road either. Molefhi is reportedly setting up his lobby team despite entering the race late.
“Challenging the Vice President for the party chairpersonship should never be misconstrued to mean that I defied President Khama as some of you think. I was simply exercising my democratic right as an individual. So did the team that supported me,” Molefhi said after losing in 2017.
As for Tsogwane, he may enjoy the advantage of being a sitting VP with Masisi’s backing but he is not exactly a formidable figure either. As the party chairperson, he has done little because his role is not well explained. Members expect him to be the eyes and ears of the party on behalf of President Masisi.
Before Molefhi announced his candidacy, Tsogwane thought he was going to take the seat unopposed. Strategically, Tsogwane has been increasing his visibility in the party. With the worrying state of the party, Tsogwane has been assigning some members of the party central committee to check on the ailing party structures.
So many factors have come in since the last chairmanship race amongst others the COVID-19 pandemic, but neither Tsogwane nor Molefhi is anointed yet. Masisi endorsing his deputy for the chairperson role could give Molefhi some remnants of the Tonota congress and it is up to him to tie loose ends however late it may be.
But history should be a lesson for Molefhi and perhaps this time he should never allow his congress delegates to be swallowed by rivals like it happened in Camp Dubai five years ago.
At the time, Masisi’s team Dubai capitalised on Molefhi’s complacency and this time around he needs a well coordinated team. He has to pull strings from behind and assemble a very strong team that will have a total control of the congress.