The politics of fisticuffs :: Mmegi Online

In the past fortnight, the local political scene has been muddied by two incidents of brawling that broke out within parties. In the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), there was a punch-up in Francistown at a campaign meeting, while in the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), fists and chairs flew during a meeting to discuss an upcoming electoral congress.

Both incidents point to a disturbing trend within local politics where intolerance has been rising on the back of increasingly acidic rhetoric and vitriol.

In the aftermath of the 2014 general elections – statistically the most fiercely contested poll in the country’s history – the political atmosphere has become more competitive and its prevailing dialogue, more intense. Whether in the battles for by-elections or inner-party polls, the race for political office has become a cut-throat affair with gibes and taunts filling the headlines and in turn creating further fodder for antagonists on social media.

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