This is according to party spokesperson, Dr Mpho Pheko. The BCP will host its annual conference during the President's Day holidays, which comes four months before the General Election. The conference is expected to attract nearly 500 delegates drawn from party structures across the country. The BCP often uses its conference as an opportunity for its members to meet and reflect on organisational progress in the previous year. “The conference will give us an opportunity to reflect on the reception of our message by the electorate and identify areas of fine tuning where necessary. We will take stock and engage our candidates up and down the ticket, as well as activists in our bid to build momentum for the General Election,” Pheko told Mmegi in an interview this week. The BCP election message for this year’s polls is centred on issues related to combating unemployment and an inclusive economy. In addition, the party has set its sight on winning 31 of the 54 constituencies it will contest, which will be enough to form a government. “We still believe that we have a realistic chance of winning the 31 constituencies. For this reason, we will also use the conference to come up with robust strategies that aims to recharge and reinvigorate party cadres for the last push towards winning the 31 constituencies,” she said.
Apart from refining the message for the 2024 General Election and celebrating its success, the BCP will also look at some of its failures since its Tutume conference last July and possibly come up with remedial measures. One of the recommendations at the conference was getting a higher number of women to contest elections, most notably at a parliamentary level for the 2024 General Election. There is no doubt the party has been the most proactive in terms of preparing for the General Election as per recommendations of the Tutume conference. It launched its manifesto earlier than other parties.
The BCP was also the first to complete it primaries and went on to launch its first ever youth manifesto among others. However, the party has failed dismally to achieve its ambition of being a more friendly entity that encourages the participation of women and youth in elections. Even after relaxing its affirmative action policy, there was still a lower number of women and youth interested in contesting the elections. For example, only five women will contest the 2024 General Election at parliamentary level from 54 constituencies that the BCP will run for. The BCP president, Dumelang Saleshando, admitted that the party’s affirmative action policy has failed in terms of encouraging a fair number of women to contest the general election. “I have to admit that the results of the affirmative action policy are far from satisfactory. It is, however, reflective of the national trend. Women are less keen to take leadership positions. When it comes to parliamentary positions, it becomes apparent,” Saleshando told Mmegi in previous interview.
