BCP headquarters to become Crowning Glory of Michael Dingake

  • Renaming BCP head office after Dingake follows congress resolution of October 2021
  • BCP announces opening online registration for membership drive
  • Saleshando says target is to recruit over 100K new members before December

MPHO MATSHEDISO

The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) will rename its headquarters after political activist and author Michael Dingake, who is also the founding president of the party, the Secretary General of the BCP, Goretetse Kekgonegile, has announced.
Speaking at the launch of a BCP membership drive called “Boloko Jwa Motia” at the University of Botswana last Sunday, Kekgonegile said renaming BCP headquarters after the outstanding figure (who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island) is the fulfillment of a resolution adopted at the BCP elective congress of October last year.
He disclosed that the BCP has also launched an online membership registration portal through WhatsApp Messenger and the party’s website platform.
Speaking at the same occasion, the president of the BCP, Dumelang Saleshando, said the party aims to recruit over 100 000 new members between March this year and December 2022. “In 2019 there was an estimated 1.5 million people eligible to vote in Botswana and during the 2019 general elections the Independent Electoral Commission Botswana (IEC) targeted 1.2 million people but only 925 000 voted during the elections,” Saleshando noted.
“We will not take or accept any excuses in 2024. The BCP has a trend of winning constituencies and losing them in the succeeding elections. We won Okavango in 1999 and lost the constituency in 2004. We also won the Ngamiland constituency in 2009 and lost it in the 2014 general elections and again we won Ramotswa in 2014 and lost it in 2019. We want to retain all these constituencies and win others in the 2024 general elections.”
The BCP president added that the party will re-evaluate its electoral target at its annual conference in July. “There will also monthly meetings at constituency level and wards to review progress,” he said.