BNF’s shifting Leadership, 58 years on
Mompati Tlhankane | Friday October 13, 2023 12:54
Kwele
Daniel Kwele was the BNF’s first president and took over the leadership of the party at a time when it was not easy to be in the opposition. He led the party when no one wanted to be the leader of an opposition party. His comrades and family described him as a visionary leader who even invested some of his family resources and time to take the BNF forward. He was an educationist who taught people around him to draw a line between politics and relationships. Kwele is also said to have been the leader of the BNF at a time when it was not attractive to be in the opposition, but he made sacrifices. Kwele later resigned to go into public service. He ended up joining the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and served as an Assistant Minister in Sir Ketumile Masire’s cabinet. In the 1980s, he quit the BDP to form the Botswana Progressive Union, an outfit which died a natural death with his passing. Kwele died on November 26, 1991 at the age of 63 and was buried in Francistown. In 2016 the BNF paid tribute to their first president by putting a wreath at Kwele’s resting place.
GaseitsiweBathoen Gaseitsiwe, the late paramount chief of the Bangwaketse is the man who made history by becoming the first man to beat a sitting vice president, Ketumile Masire, when he won the Kanye South constituency in the 1969 General Election. ‘B2’, as he was affectionately called, had joined the BNF prior to the election and was soon ushered into a position of leadership. When Dikgosi were stripped of all their powers, it is said that Gaseitsiwe reconciled himself to the unexpected fact that the chieftainship future was doomed and so joined the ranks of the BNF in 1969. He voluntarily surrendered his chieftainship to his eldest son, Seepapitso IV. He also voluntarily surrendered the BNF presidency to Dr Kenneth Koma.
“In his days as a BNF president from the early 70s, Comrade ‘B2’ was admired by followers as an eloquent, diligent, formidable, forceful and unquenchable brave defender of Botswana’s political and socio-economic interests, as his party, the BNF saw them. The man had a remarkably intuitive sense of the dangers and opportunities facing the nation. He skillfully steered the ship of the BNF in the stormiest of days when the ‘Seretse cult’ was at its highest peak and when the chieftainship was plunging into serious crisis. The late Gaseitsiwe was a noble man who loathed nobility. The man who didn’t mind just being addressed as ‘Comrade B2’ was a seasoned and time-tested politician who loathed politics, yet embodying high political ideals and down to earth views expressed in straight talk (Puo Phaa) fashion – all the virtues of a simpler and serene leader. Gaseitsiwe occupies a unique place in Botswana’s political history,” BNF’s Moeti Mohwasa previously wrote about the late BNF president. Nevertheless, in 1985, Gaseitsiwe retired from active politics and was appointed President of the Customary Court of Appeal. ‘B2’ died in October 1990 and was buried in the Kanye main Kgotla.
Koma
Dr Kenneth Gaobamong Shololo ‘KK’ Koma was the principal founder and for many years leading member of the Botswana National Front (BNF). Born in Serowe, he first emerged as a political figure in the early 1950s among a group of young educated Bangwato who protested Seretse’s banishment. After pursuing further studies abroad, Koma returned to Botswana just after this country’s attainment of self-government in mid 1965, armed with an LLB from Nottingham University, Certificate in French, an MA in History, Philosophy and Political Economy from Charles University, Prague Czechoslovakia, and PhD in Political Science from the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, the former Soviet Union. Being one of the most educated Batswana at the time, he could easily have pursued a successful academic career but he decided to forego a career that would have guaranteed him a good salary to devote himself to Batswana. His first task was attempting to reorganise and rebuild the opposition by uniting the various parties, which had split from the original Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) prior to the country’s first elections. It was only after the definitive failure of these attempts that he decided to launch the BNF.
In 1977, Koma was elected party president taking over from Chief Bathoeng Gaseitsiwe who voluntarily relinquished his leadership position. Dr Koma, himself, entered Parliament in 1984 when he was elected as the MP for Gaborone South. Just like his predecessor, Koma once trounced BDP’s Vice President, Peter Mmusi, after a controversial recount of the ill-fated Tshiamo Ballot box that was found abandoned. He remained in Parliament until 2004. It was under Koma leadership that the BNF experienced a steady rise in popularity and influence. It was also under his leadership when the BNF split to form the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) on the eve of the 1999 General Election. Koma’s reign came to an end during the 2001 Kanye Congress when his anointed successor failed to take over the reins of the party. A promising stalwart Otsweletse Moupo instead won against Koma’s wishes. Koma and his losing camp broke away and formed the National Democratic Front led by Dick Bayford. Koma died an NDF member in 2007, but in the BNF he is still cherished and celebrated. The BNF even unveiled his tombstone in Mahalapye in 2012 to recognise his exceptional leadership.
Moupo Otsweletse
Moupo was never the heir that was anointed because he won the presidential seat of the BNF against his predecessor Dr Koma’s wishes. Though not Koma’s anointed successor, Moupo was the people’s choice and hope was written all over when he assumed the BNF’s coveted hot seat. He started with a bang and he seemed like the Messiah the BNF had been waiting for. He was popular with the grassroots and appeared to be injecting life into the party. Moupo, among his biggest highlight, was winning the Gaborone West North constituency by beating the then-rape accused Robert Masitara.
Things started falling apart when his comrades lost confidence in him.
They wanted him to clear his desk and leave the party high office while his friends were abandoning him in droves. Moupo became a subject of public ridicule when he could not respond to the State of the Nation address. His personal woes impacted profoundly the overall health of the organisation. People had serious doubts about Moupo’s competence to lead the BNF. The future of the BNF under his care looked desolate and vague. Perhaps among his worst humiliations was when he reportedly ran out of funds during a trip to the UK. He read the political tempo and did not seek re-election in the 2010 party elective congress.
Boko A Harvard law graduate, Boko’s political history was not known until the time he succeeded Otsweletse Moupo. Although it is said that he was actively involved in student politics during his University of Botswana days, history remembers him more for his work as a human rights lawyer in the famous CKGR case than in politics.
However, one would say with the benefit of hindsight, it has become clear why Boko, a lesser-known figure then, was brave enough to stand for the BNF presidency. Of course, there were detractors who challenged his BNF membership, but he sailed through and descended on the throne. He took over a BNF that had seen its fortunes fade under the stewardship of Moupo.
The BNF was engulfed in factions, while it was losing its grip as the main opposition in the country. But Boko managed to calm things down and get ‘his house’ in order. The BNF started to look like a party re-energised and ready to challenge for power under his leadership.
In 2014, he led a coalition made of three parties; BNF, Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) to the general election under the Umbrella for Democratic Party (UDC banner as president. It was a successful effort from Boko and the UDC as he led a 19-man strong team of highly educated men to Parliament. Boko had contested the Gaborone Bonnington North constituency and won. The feat was achieved without prominent opposition in the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) which had pulled out of the coalition prior to the elections and went solo.
However, after the BCP joined in the coalition going into the 2019 General Election, there were higher expectations for electoral success. Boko had to deliver victory. He managed to mount a successful campaign for the opposition, at times going pound for pound with the mega-rich Botswana Democratic Change (BDP). The UDC failed to take power from the BDP while Boko lost his parliamentary seat to BDP’s Annah Mokgethi. The UDC performance was so bad that the coalition lost all Gaborone constituencies to the ruling party. Questions started to be thrown around as to whether Boko was fit to lead the coalition. Others called for him to resign while some suggested an elective congress.
After losing his parliamentary seat, Boko was quiet pondering on his next move. When he resurfaced, the UDC was not shy to wield the axe, and he has since fallen out with his former deputy at the coalition being the BCP president Dumelang Saleshando.
It looked like the enmity between the two had been building for months but the feud moved beyond a political rally shouting match to a personal grudge bout. Even though he lost the BCP, Boko’s UDC has managed to attract the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and had begun talks with the Alliance for Progressives (AP) as they plot a partnership for the next year’s general election. That is of course his job at the coalition but at the BNF he has managed to solidify his position after winning last year’s elective congress against Baatlhodi ‘Bucs’ Molatlhegi in Ba Isago. Compared to his predecessors, Boko is concentrated on coalition politics and believes that while BNF should still matter, it is the UDC that could give them access to state power.
While Boko’s tumultuous journey has seen him losing even some of his trusted lieutenants, he always states with almost truculent conviction that the future of opposition politics in Africa lies in coalition. Boko said the BNF is an inspiration for coalition politics. He emphasised that the BNF was formed to unite opposition parties in Botswana. Boko revealed that the resolution that was taken at the BNF congress in 2010 was to unite opposition parties. He said people should understand the strategic position of the BNF in Botswana politics.
He says the UDC represents an attempt; an enduring quest, to depart from the beaten path of separate and insular existences to carve out a unique and defiant vision of unity and diversity. Boko, who is often accused of fixating his eyes on building the UDC and neglecting his own party, the BNF, says they have twice fallen victim to the coalition arrangement after the general election. In the 2014 General Election, the BNF had eight Members of Parliament (MP) while one of the UDC founding partners, Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), had nine parliamentary seats of the 17 that UDC won. In 2019, the BNF only won four out of the 15 that the UDC won. Boko said the BNF, which has compromised a lot for the sake of unity, has worked tirelessly since 2012 and even worked harder to make sure that the coalition remains intact.