(In case you missed it in Weekend Post) Dear Editor Re: The BCP remains relevant It is a journalistic ethic and a worldwide practiced to grant individuals the right of reply by newspapers to anyone who has a strong view that they may have been misrepresented, to allow them to set the records straight. However, it seems of late a number of local publications have notoriously violated this principle with impunity when it comes to Botswana Congress Party (BCP) officials wanting to exercise this right, even on the same platforms where someone may have pulled the wool over its views and character. This unfortunate conduct by some media houses has a potential to stain and defile the integrity and reputation of the fourth state as an important source of unbiased and balanced reporting, which is critical in a democracy such as ours. It is therefore my hope that this time around, a temptation to muffle opinion will be avoided and i will be allowed to respond to some deliberate misinformation and misconceptions about my party, the BCP, that have littered the papers since the last elections. Denying me that right to set the records straight will be practically the same as violating an ethical standard of true journalism. Since what some commentators have called a “dismal” performance by the BCP in the last elections, there has emerged from the woods impressionists, yes, parrots, bo bokolela di tlhabane, who behave like the proverbial lunatic who has stumbled upon a whistle. We all know how irritating a whistle in the hands of a lunatic can be. They have assumed the role of sangomas and fortune tellers who even have the bravery to prescribe what is good for the BCP ahead of its members and the more than 140 000 people who cast their vote for the party. One ingenious singer has put up a line that best describes such characters in one of her songs when she said, “go lela fela le tse di senang marole.” One such character is the self appointed counterfeit analyst by the name Bernard Tibone Busani who behaves like a puppy barking without purpose with his uncoordinated rumblings. He is one of the excited zealots who think that the recent performance by the Umbrella For Democratic Change (UDC) in the elections have given them some driving force to venture into political commentary. We want to respond to Busani’s consignment of balderdash. We ignored him when he first emerged from the trench, but like the proverbial lunatic who has picked a whistle and is making himself a centre of attraction, his irritation can no longer be put up with lest it pollute the minds of the unsuspecting readers with his discordant noise. His articles are littered with lies, inconsistencies obviously springing from the lack of knowledge of the truth. Makgoa ba re little knowledge is dangerous and that is how sneering crude characters like Busani can be if left unchecked. Busani writes, “what has been said and is the truth is that the BCP walked away from the umbrella talks because of disagreement on five if not two constituencies. The BCP did not finish the umbrella talks, which talks they initiated and embraced”. From the above, it is either Busani is imperceptive or he is downright obtuse. He is not even sure about what was the reason why the talks collapsed yet he thinks he is qualified to charge the BCP with treason. It is Busani’s own testimony that he is not sure if there was disagreement with five or two constituencies. He also admits that this is not what he knows but what was said. Said by who? Strangely, based on what he is not sure of, he has the bravery to incriminate the BCP. How implausible! This is indeed gross act of academic dishonesty. The truth that Busani and his likeminded needs to told is that the BCP never walked away from the talks. The talks collapsed and a communiqué declaring the collapsed was signed by the president of the four negotiating parties being the BCP, Botswana National Front (BNF), Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), and was pronounced by the president of the BNF in full view of the public and the media. This is not what was said, but rather what happened. It is not the hearsay that Busani and other lost souls are peddling as the gospel truth. Where does Busani pick the walking out he alleges was committed by the BCP here, if this is not a figment of his fertile imagination? The other truth that Busani his bunch of tittle-tattlers need to know and not the things that he has heard in the dark streets is that a few hours before the umbrella one talks were pronounced as collapsed, both the BNF and the BCP, who during the talks never had any disagreements, made a joint offer to the BMD, who were in fact the problem party throughout the talks. It is on record that the BMD rejected such an offer which had given them all but one constituency were they were incumbent, plus six other constituencies. For starters, the only constituency that BMD were incumbent then and was not included in the joint offer was Ramotswa, but in its place, the BCP had traded off Mogoditshane, a more winnable constituency than the former. There was a reason why the BCP which Busani has already admitted it is a champion of opposition cooperation and initiated the talks, wanted to hold on to Ramotswa. It will be remembered, (and Busani should listen very carefully because it will benefit him to better his engagement on issues of opposition cooperation in Botswana), after the BNF and its partner in crime, the BPP, walked out the opposition cooperation talks in 2007, BCP and the former Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM), remained at the table and agreed on a PACT arrangement going into the 2009 general election. The two parties produced a joint manifesto which was titled “The Nation at Crossroads”. They also had one presidential candidate who at that time was Cde Gilson Saleshando. It is common knowledge the BCP-BAM pact produced impressive results, winning five seats in parliament, one seat behind the BNF who went into the election with nine seats after losing two through irrational expulsions and one in a bye election from the twelve it had after 2004 general election, and about seventy six council seats, surpassing the BNF in this area. Immediately after 2009 elections, the BCP and BAM agreed to merge into a single party, the current BCP which has a cow symbol. The merger set out preliminary conditions which were to run until the merger has fully matured. One of the conditions was that the BAM president who was then Rre Lepetu Setshwaelo shall assume the vice presidency of the new BCP. Another condition was that Ramotswa, a constituency that Rre Setshwaelo contested under the BCP ticket in 2009 and lost narrowly to the Odirile Motlhale, be reserved for him. This was in 2010, the same year that other political developments happened such as the formation of a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) breakaway party, the BMD after the expulsion of the late Gomolemo Motswaledi. During the talks the BMD adopted a rigid position that they wanted to be given all the constituencies that they were incumbent. They even developed a slogan, “incumbency or nothing”, which was quite an irrational position in any negotiation where parties should be prepared for a give and take principle. Both the BNF and the BCP were able to bend to accommodate the BMD which had not contested the elections in 2009. In the case of Ramotswa the BMD was made aware of other concessions that have taken place between BCP and BAM before the talks started such as reserving Ramotswa for Rre Setshwaelo. The BCP which had performed exceptionally well in Mogoditshane in 2009, winning three council seats and loosing the constituency with a margin of less than a thousand to the BDP, was ready to trade off that constituency in place of Ramotswa. But the BMD would not take any of it and they insisted on their incumbency or nothing stance. During the impasse, at some point the labour movements through their umbrella body, were roped in to mediate, but BMD couldn’t budge. This is what happened and not what has been said which Busani and other zealots should take and avoid peddling falsehood. It is absurd for Busani to say the BCP did not finish the umbrella talks. He fails to state at what stage did the BCP abandon the talks. Of course this is an obvious lie that has been peddled by people who seem to master the dishonorable act of lying. It has already been demonstrated above that the talks collapsed, and the reasons stated by the conveners, the collapse of which the pronouncement was made, publicly by the BNF president, who also doubles as the UDC president and leader of opposition in parliament. Where then does Busani get the walk out by the BCP when all the evidence is there that points to the fact the talks collapsed? We know that the UDC used the above lie as their potency enhancer and fuel in their hatred against the BCP driven “moono” slogan. Like we have said before, moono was a call to hate the BCP because the UDC believed that in order for them to gain some semblance of relevancy to Botswana politics, they should at most be second to BDP and out class the BCP at all costs, even if that comes at the expense of the credibility of some in their leadership. The case is point is the lies they peddled around to instill fear in the hearts of unsuspecting public. Bed time stories such as the existence of a hit list (which they no longer talk about), allegations that Gomolemo Motswaledi was assassinated (the report of which they no longer talk about); that the BCP President was doing business with BDP members, something they failed to bring forth evidence, were all splodges that the perpetrators are ashamed to face the nation at this point to say it was just a polluted, grubby campaign strategy which is no longer necessary to pursue since it has achieved its intended objective. But the truth is, the integrity of most of them, including at a broader sense, the organisations they represent, have been soiled beyond redemption. They are now viewed as untrustworthy. Busani is clearly wallowing in darkness, he needs urgent help. He claims that the BCP’s grand plan was to kill the BNF when they came up with the umbrella model as a model of cooperation. Tota gatwe motho yo o tswa kae? I wonder where he heard this from. The umbrella model was the brain child of the BMD. The BCP had proposed the pact model which it had used in the previous election with BAM and paid off. It is a fact that after the collapse of the umbrella talks that the BCP participated in, the party wrote a letter to the BNF requesting for a formal meeting to see if the two cannot forge a working relationship since they didn’t have any differences during the negotiations. Most BNF central committee members believed so too. But the BNF president who appeared to have other interests snubbed this gesture by the BCP. He started to play hide and seek with his own central committee. We later heard that he had been promised the presidency of the umbrella party if he can support the BMD on their incumbency stance (maybe that explains why he was never subjected to a vote to become the UDC president). There was even a fallout with members of the executive committee of the BNF. Many would remember that the BNF vice president Rre Isaac Mabiletsa, the Secretary General Cde Akanyang Magama, the Deputy Secretary General Dr Nono Kgafela Mokoka, the secretary of International Affairs, Mephato Reatile, member of parliament for Kanye North Cde Kentse Rammidi and many others, later left the BNF to join the BCP and some the BDP. If at all the BCP had any intention to kill the BNF as alleged by Busani, would the BCP have courted the BNF for further talks after the initial collapse? The BNF president Duma Boko is on record after the collapse of the initial talks saying that he does not want to work with the BCP because the later hurt the former in 1998 and that he only wants to work with the BMD and BPP under the umbrella model (Reference: The Botswana Guardian). Down his article Busani displays his political dwarfism in a dramatic fashion. He is mottled, bamboozled and enthralling. He lacks composure. He is illogical, lucid and grossly irrational in all manner of imagination. He lists what he purports to be truth about the BCP. But the truth is that none of what he claims are truths about the BCP comes anyway near the measure of truth. He is indeed a prophet of doom, a political fortuity who is not known in the political analysis market place. He senselessly asks , “where are the shadow ministers? What was the real purpose? How do you have a shadow minister outside parliament?” Uhu! Such imbecility is amazing for someone who wants to be taken seriously. Busani believes there were no differences in the UDC and BCP manifestos. Ao bathong! Didn’t the BCP talk about a land audit which the UDC opposed with so much vigour and instead concurred with the BDP driven LAPCAS? Didn’t the BCP talk about bringing back our jobs which the UDC through its president also opposed and instead agreed with the BDP that Botswana is not yet ready for beneficiating its minerals and other raw materials to employ the many unemployed young people? I think Busani needs to have his head examined thoroughly. He is not in a good way. The BCP remain focussed and believes that it remain the voice of the more than 140 000 Batswana who cast their votes in its favour. The BCP will not be derailed by incoherent characters the likes of Busani, but it continues to push its message through its representatives in parliament, local authorities and outside parliament. We shall continue talking the message of land audit; we will not relent on calling the BDP government to account. Our voice will not deem on issues of youth un-employment, the use of the mother tongue. Lastly, the BCP will never be forced into any marriage of convenience that some see as a fast lane to power, even if it means replacing the BDP with another Domkrag with a different name. We will continue to push the agenda for true transformation of this country, economically, socially and politically. Regards Banks Ndebele Mogoditshane
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 06:43:21 +0000