Let us remain focused on BDP ouster

| Wednesday May 1, 2013 00:00

 As we all know Dingake is a former President of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), an off-shoot of the BNF.  He also happens to be a former Vice President of the BNF.  His attack on the BNF leader therefore is understandable as his departure and that of some of his colleagues from the BNF was not a very pleasant one.  It was acrimonious.  He attacked Cde Boko in an article which appeared in Mmegi recently. In response to his diatribe there has been a response from the BNF Youth League.

While we very much appreciate the anger that this article has caused, we would like to appeal to our members to not allow themselves to be derailed from the target, which is to channel all our energies towards unseating the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power. As the BNF and as part of the UDC collective, we should ignore this unwarranted provocation. Not because we cannot match Rre Dingake pound for pound in the mastery of hurling insults, but because we have a noble challenge ahead of us.

The challenge that we all face as a nation is to ensure that we work together as the opposition to bring about change of government which the nation wants. Insulting each other as the opposition will not help but make people lose trust and confidence in us. We plead with the opposition leaders and elders, particularly when dealing with each other regardless of the parties they belong to, to act in a manner that will instill confidence in us. We are sure there is a way we can deal with our displeasures towards one another without going to the papers.

There has been an argument about whether being a politician necessarily means we are leaders. We would not like to go into the details of the debate. But as James Macgregor Burns argued, leadership is the ability to take one's people to a higher moral plane. We are sure this moral high plane that our people want is one that is devoid of pettiness, insults and infighting within the opposition. One where the opposition works together even if not under an 'Umbrella' to ensure a better life for all. One where we fight against erosion of liberties, democracy and freedom.

We cannot achieve this if we focus on maligning each other as the opposition. This will strengthen the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). We all know that the majority of our people would like to see the BDP ejected out of power in 2014 because it has brought about poverty, inequality and unemployment. It has interest in the promotion of Justice, personal liberties and Democracy.   

 The obsession to annihilate one another as the opposition will not help bring about regime change. We should not repeat the mistake committed by the Communist Party and the then leaders of German Social Democracy. The Nazi party in Germany took over the reigns during the period after the Second World War, courtesy of the German Social Democracy, who had concentrated their efforts on the struggle against the Communist Party and shut their eyes to the actual, mortal danger from the right. It ended eventually with a tragic catastrophe for the German working class.

The losses were equally catastrophic for the Communists and German Social Democratic movement. The Nazi take over brought about the Second World War, in which millions died.

Of course the BDP victory will not lead to a second world war, but there are lessons to be learnt from here. The BDP, if it wins in 2014 will make this country slide backwards. The BDP under Lieutenant General Ian Khama has become intolerant and has introduced policies that are not aimed at having an independent and liberated Motswana.

As the opposition we need to work together to block a BDP victory in 2014 by working together. We are sure it is not too late for the opposition to start conversing over this issue and not hurl insults.  We call upon all those who want change to focus on bringing the opposition together.  The greatest winner in the war of words between the opposition will be the BDP.  We will be the greatest losers.

Cde Moeti MohwasaBNF Information and Publicity Secretary