Boko: upfront, unapologetic, BNF�s son of destiny?

Lawrence Ookeditse | Thursday April 24, 2014 10:54

 

First though, the boldness: See, very few people are as confident of their abilities as Duma Boko is. He knows what he is capable of, and he knows who comes close to matching him much as he knows who doesn’t. That is an ace - a great deal of people in politics do not appraise themselves, do not know their real worth and labour under false impressions based on showers usually from within their camps.

Some say he is arrogant, I would say he is confident in his capabilities bordering on arrogance but he isn’t arrogant. He is merely confident, and usually, Batswana - schooled in being apologetic and in the wrong notion that respect means self-condensation- tend to see this as arrogance. But I repeat that it is not arrogance.

In business as in society, the fellas who usually win are the bold types- so much that when Alexander the Great was young, his teachers, among them the Great Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, constantly told him that ‘fortune favours the bold’.  Why else do you think out of so many who studied and lived in the USA only a few in this country developed friendships with a Hollywood star? It had to be Boko, and this is in no small measure due to his ‘arrogance’. Teach your kids the Bokoesque arrogance folks, it is what world beaters possess- you know what they say about Cristiano Ronaldo, Thabo Mbeki, George Bush, Tony Blair among other world greats? Arrogant.

Rick Yune. Now, some have said ‘what is with the Korean-American ‘bad guy’ actor? Each time I’ve seen this on Facebook and heard politicians wonder what the value of having Yune here is, I cringed. Cringed for such people must be leaving in the Stone Age.

Look, the Nazis, the Bolsheviks, the Greeks, The Ottomans, the Ancient Egyptians and almost every civilization in the world today understood the power of appearances, the power of being able to connect with a people before delivering your message. For all we know, even our primate ancestors even got the power of getting another’s attention to deliver a message. Thus, by bringing Yune and making the most out of it, Duma has come to thoroughly understand the importance in politics of keeping up appearances. That is another thing to like about him- spatial awareness. Say what you like.

Now, he then chooses to chopper to some parts of the country and some hardened communists cry foul. And I say, Lord are they kidding me?? That is a first for an opposition leader and boy it did raise noise the guys should be excited and not finding stuff to criticize!  That is publicity. He arrives like a star, dark v-neck t-shirt and dark shades in the company of an actor in Olympus has Fallen. If you do not get the gist of this, the symbolism, the connection he makes with younger voters, then you never will and I’ll just give up on you already. With just this, 40 per cent of his job in going to parliament has been done. It is about appearances, it is about connecting and while they’re still tuned in delivering your message. The bold ones get it. Boko got it. That I admire, that is why I usually gravitate towards a person most shun for being ‘arrogant’. Usually by arrogant they mean we feel inferior around that person, he or she has this or that we feel we do not have.  

Even more important for this piece is his commitment to covenants. Last year a meeting was convened by some trade union party to urge the political opposition to cease fire and see each other as potential coalition partners even after the election. It was agreed that such remain under wraps. The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) appeared to pour scorn at the spirit of such when they publicly announced this at a press conference. In a subsequent conversation with him about this, he seemed let down but said he is not to discuss the matter openly in the press as this would go against the principle and ethos of the agreement.

This is good for the BNF. I know BNF to be a leftist organisation at times dominated by conservative ideologues that refuse to enjoy the best civilization has to offer.   For some strange reason, those who prosper, those who accumulate wealth, drink fine French wine- Chivas Regal and the Glenfiddich, drive cute little German machines and wear Louis Vuitton, Armani, Dolce&Gabana, Pringle of Scotland, Burberry and the like have been made to feel out of place. They had been made to feel they are sell outs, reactionaries whose tastes are misplaced as this party is a vanguard for the poor, the proletariat, a bastion of safety for the have nots and one that cannot and should not house petty bourgeoisie, bo makgorwane. That it is not resonant with ambition and self-improvement.

This has robbed BNF of talent and made some of its most glorious sons and daughters either decamp or go into political irrelevance. Now, you get Boko riding into town with a Hollywood star, from the East you may say but put a lid on it, Yune is no communist in the sense of Mao or Ho Chi Minh. He is a guy enjoying the finest things life has to offer- and he should! This path, is important and this is why it had to take a Duma to shepherd the BNF, one who would enjoy the fine things in life yet not lose his touch with the ordinary people, one who enjoys success is not blind of the conditions of fellow human beings.  

His boldness and confidence even when being challenged has come in handy: he has not backed down. Rather, he has made it fashionable to be leftist yet prosper. To be leftist, yet drive a fine car, to be leftist yet live in a beautiful house. Essentially, that being leftist is not to live a life of poverty and suffering.

Is it not after all that the communists are also looking for the best ways to help society, to help its individual components ultimately, prosper? I think it is and I like Boko for being bold enough to lead the BNF out of self-imposed misery. To make it romantic for a younger generation of voters to be BNF for the BCP had almost made that space theirs.  A sense of destiny even the most hardened of opponents must feel about this guy, soon, soon, he just may be playing ball with the gods. May just be the BNF’s son of destiny. Do not say I never said it.