From the moment he returned to the country after a sojourn in South Africa, Samson Moyo Guma’s abrupt appearance at the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), a breakaway party from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) changed the complexion of the party whose president, Biggie Butale was on a long suspension following an alleged misconduct.
It seems for the longest time, there were no major decisions made at the BPF under Caroline Lesang as then helmsman. There was no brave politician within the party’s ranks who could shake things up until the arrival of Guma.
He may have not been doing things hands on, but he was influential in many ways. In his short stint as part of the BPF executive, Guma influenced many decisions as its controversial decision to join the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is chiefly attributed to his push for the BPF to join the coalition parties to improve its standing.
On another realm, Lesang, formerly BDP operative and then BPF leader who acted for sometime as the BPF president saw herself surrounded by male counterparts as the only woman leading the party.
Guma arrived from South Africa at the ‘opportune moment’ when amongst others, party patron, Ian Khama and his brother Tshekedi Khama who holds the position of secretary-general were in self-imposed exile in South Africa. This could have been the reason why he wished to contest for the leadership of the BPF.
If it wasn’t for the endless postponements of the BPF elective congress, Guma could have won the elections and satisfied his burning desire to lead the party he was worried was gripped by tribalism and treated like someone’s personal property.
Although Khama (Ian) is simply the party patron, he has for the longest time, been the brain behind the BPF. He carried the magic wand of the party whose fortunes have unfortunately been on the wane as party loyalists and pioneers desert for the ruling party.
Amongst the people who quit the BPF were Khama’s blood cousin, Foster Seretse who has since retraced his footsteps to the BDP, after resigning almost at the same time with Lesang. There was a feeling that Guma had come to disrupt progress and steal peace from the party. In fact, the strongest feeling was that he was sent to sow seeds of confusion in the BPF and leave the party torn apart. Guma has since rubbished accusations that he was a ‘mole’ serving the interests of the BDP. Then there was another party operative, the straight talking Dineo Tumotumo, who would later pour out his frustrations about Guma’s arrival at the BPF. He said about Guma: “Upon his return from South Africa, he expressed his desire to take over the leadership of the BPF. He didn’t show any respect to the BPF leadership as he simply called the shots and had been sowing seeds of confusion in the leadership.”
He described Guma as a reckless and divisive politician. Furthermore, he accused Guma to be in a faction that has been pushing Khama too hard over issues. As for the adversarial relationship between Guma and the Khamas, it became evident about a week ago when something terribly went wrong at the BPF leadership meeting that prompted Guma’s immediate resignation.
Guma would accuse Khama of bullying, tribalism and the lot. The Guma-Khama relationship has not been short of drama as hatred characterised the former allies. At one stage, Guma even suggested that BPF members should not treat the party like Khama’s personal property as it’s the people’s project something that attracted backlash for Guma as Khama supporters treated such views as malicious.
In a recent interview, Guma conceded that he was not in talking terms with Khama. Tension between the two has always raised fears that one of them was destined to quit the party, as tension wasn’t even good for the party progression.
Guma would also highlight his honest views on opposition unity under the arrangement of the UDC. “First and foremost I believe in opposition unity, in particular, BPF joining the UDC. However, the BPF must follow its constitutional provisions on this matter.
The party NEC took a position to join UDC in principle and that decision has not been revoked,” he told Mmegi in a previous interview. Known for his penchant for fund raising for political parties of his choice as he did formerly at the BDP and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) where he pioneered before he returned to the ruling party, Guma is a smart politician who always gets what he wants.
He found his way into the executive leadership of the BPF when he was co-opted with amongst others another former BDP operative, Moiseraele Master Goya. His stay at the BPF was chiefly characterised by endless hullaballoo.
As BPF has joined other opposition parties that are hit by resignations of key members, BPF president, Butale recently described the trend to be perpetrated by the ruling BDP which uses its influence and power to destabilise other parties.
He said the BDP targets some of their members to decamp. He however, finds that acceptable in politics. What he however, finds alarming is that some of their members are being targeted through unconventional ways, meaning that they are promised positions and other things that really veer off from what can be considered to be fair recruitment. He had warned that people should not assume that only BPF members will be enticed by the BDP regime, but all opposition political activists, which are a threat to the ruling party are going to lose their members in the coming months as they go into the elections.
He also alleged that the ruling party has been ‘receiving kickbacks’ from companies awarded tenders for various works. Following the above, some observers say Butale and the party executive leadership have now turned the party into a laughing stock as they continue dismissing each other from the party and using the media to post internal matters.
