“BPF is a member of UDC” – Mohwasa

  • Says only the formality of endorsement by congress remains
  • But Butale has declared intentions to cancel certain decisions made with UDC
  • The BPF is currently in a state of disorder

TEFO PHEAGE

Amid the chaos threatening to collapse the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and issues surrounding its membership of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), the latter’s spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa, has asserted that the BPF remains a member of the UDC.
“The BPF is a member of the UDC,” Mohwasa told The Botswana Gazette. ”All that is left is a decision from the party’s congress regarding its NEC decision to join the UDC. They will be at our NEC meeting on Wednesday.”

 

Power struggles
BPF president Biggie Butale recently expressed intentions to rescind some of the decisions reached with the UDC. He said this in the midst of power struggles cuurrently besieging the BPF. Butale also said he had postponed the congress of the BPF, which was due towards the end of this month, to next year where its membership of the UDC will be decided.

The UDC holds that the troubled party should be given the space to sort itself out, implying that the coalition will not be making any effort to intervene, at least officially.
“It is called dialectics,” Mohwasa said in a recent interview. “The most important thing is how that entity manages such contradictions. The BPF should be given space to attend to and resolve its challenges. We all go through turbulence but what is important is how you deal with those challenges.”

 

Contested terrain
He added that after its congress the party should emerge stronger and more capable of dealing with future challenges. “Politics is a highly contested terrain and not a picnic,” he asserted. But observers say in its current form and character, the BPF is likely to continue to experience turbulence which may delay the UDC in exploring other alternatives.
It looks like some powerful forces within the BPF are against the idea of joining the UDC and are open to negotiations with other political organistions.

When a decision to join the UDC was announced by the party’s NEC recently, an uproar immediately ensued forcing the party to immediately withdraw and correct the statement to the effect that the party had not joined the opposition coalition.