A litany of imperfections rock the UDC
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday July 4, 2022 06:00
Looking back, when the UDC was formed in 2012, then coalition partners, the Botswana National Front (BNF), the Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and the now ousted Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) had little in common other than a desire to remove the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power.
The ‘People’s Project’ as the UDC is touted, was formed because the three parties didn’t have enough seats in the National Assembly among other reasons. It was a historic occasion when multitudes of opposition political party members thronged Gaborone Secondary School (GSS) grounds to witness history being made when the opposition coalition UDC was launched.
The then BMD president, the late Gomolemo Motswaledi, presented the UDC structures during the launch and revealed that he alongside the BPP president Motlatsi Molapise took a decision to handpick BNF leader Duma Boko as the coalition president.
Fast forward to now, a decade later the same coalition that was founded under the cores of democracy has not held its first ever congress and Boko is still at the helm after losing two general elections to the ruling BDP.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which had chosen to pull out in the last minute when the UDC was formed, has since rectified the mistake after the 2014 general election and opted to finally join the coalition in 2018. Now, the BCP is on its way out and there is only one thing that is pulling them away, the inaugural elective congress, which has failed to materialise. “How do you define running a party for 10 years with a transitional clause? Transitional means this is temporary therefore, we are moving towards somewhere far. Essentially, the UDC is in a state of emergency. The UDC constitution is not run like it is supposed to, the UDC needs internal democracy so every three years there should be elections. It has been 10 years, there has never been any elective congress and the inaugural conference is failing to materialise.
The UDC doesn’t have an operational programme of action,” a frustrated Saleshando told the press this past weekend after he was suspended from the UDC. Saleshando said as any other person he has ambitions of moving forward with the UDC therefore, he does not deny that he wants to be its leader. It seems ‘democracy delayed is democracy denied’ are the words, which are currently ringing inside Saleshando’s head. “The UDC is a one man show, the president takes decisions and no one can say anything to him. Look at the number of times where the president has embarrassed the UDC, you think anyone can raise a voice?” Saleshando questioned.
The BCP secretary-general (SG), Goretetse Kekgonegile who was also suspended along Saleshando for allegedly tarnishing the image of the UDC, said there is no need for fighting because in a democratic set up elections are held to choose a leader. “The UDC is where we collect our votes, it is not wrong to sit down and look at the person who is best suited to win us elections. We cannot go anywhere if we hate each other for requesting to choose the best suited leader. Democracy is an issue of choice so people have the right to choose.
Politics is a contest of ideas and having a difference of ideas is not wrong,” he said. The UDC spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa, has previously explained to Mmegi that there was a meeting in Palapye last year where all the three parties in the coalition agreed to halt the congress until negotiations with other political parties are over.
He said among some of the resolutions was for the coalition members to scrutinise the UDC constitution and make recommendations on how the latter can be enhanced. “At the moment the UDC is still waiting for those recommendations from member parties,” he said.
Mohwasa pointed out that when the UDC was formed, there was no clear clause about a congress since member parties were just allocated positions in the agreement. He added that the agreement was to reflect on the congress issue but this was deferred when the BCP was brought into the coalition talks after the 2014 general election. “We couldn’t subject the BCP to a congress when they had just joined the UDC,” he further explained. He indicated that the congress issue was then postponed again to after the 2019 elections but now the only stumbling block is the opposition talks coupled with constituency negotiations. Mohwasa also said for now they cannot hold a congress before the negotiations are complete.
“That will amount to excluding potential UDC members from the congress; they can’t just come in as ordinary members,” he further clarified. Reiterating what Mohwasa said, Boko this past weekend told the media in Palapye that the elective congress issue has been explained a couple of times in their meetings. “We had two challenges and we couldn’t go ahead with the elective congress without solving them.
The first challenge is the opposition talks because the intention is to have them join the UDC and to do so they have to send four delegates to be part of the UDC national executive committee (NEC) which is a requirement. Those who come in take their seat in the leadership table and have to take part in deciding where the UDC is going. The elective congress was halted because the parties who are interested in joining the UDC have to take part and contest for positions at the elective congress. We don’t want them to come and just be ordinary members. We agreed that this would not be suitable,” Boko further explained.
He explained that the other challenge is to renew and enhance the UDC constitution. He said ahead of the congress every party should divide the total number of their members to get the number of delegates who are going to participate at the congress. “For every 750 members or part therefore, one congress delegate,” he explained.
He said the current constitution creates problems for them because ahead of the elective congress, all parties want to have more delegates and it becomes difficult to distinguish whether parties disclose the true number of their members or not. Boko said this would then lead to arguments and fighting because membership database is secret and important for each party. “Some members do not want their membership status disclosed and no other party would want others to see their members’ database,” he said. Boko said they had agreed to improve the constitution and the process is still in the works.
He said going ahead with the congress without solving the two challenges would cause more fighting and conflict. Despite these explanations from Boko and others, the BCP and Saleshando seem to have none of it, because the latter believe that successful coalition governance ultimately depends on the outcome of this congress. Already this issue has left the UDC with cracks and it is currently unsteady and unstable.
The UDC has fallen apart due to the congress disagreements among these key alliance members. This has invited instability and tension, which has threatened to compromise the opposition project. The BCP feels they have been easily sidelined by the BNF, which is keen to centralise power in the UDC. By suspending Saleshando and letting the BCP stay in the UDC, the NEC wants to keep all partners on board. With other parties like the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) already among the opposition parties in talks, negotiations will continue throughout the life-cycle of this coalition and this is where the BCP feel the delay is.
The BCP is adamant that the elective congress will ensure that coalition parties cooperate to produce a stable coalition. As long as the UDC does not hold its congress, this underlying issue will always remain and will even spill in to their coalition government in the event they win the 2024 general election.