22 May 2019

A newly registered political party, Real Alternative Party (RAP), will on May 25 launch a manifesto which will declare its policies and aims ahead of the upcoming general election.

The party’s secretary general, Mr Onkemetse Clark-Lerubisi, said RAP was a pro-socialist party that was in a quest to advance the economic justice agenda with the aim of eradicating social discrepancies and ensuring social justice for Batswana.

The party, he said, was formed in February 2017.

It was officially registered the same year and formally announced to the public on January 3, 2018.

“This is not an opposition party, but an alternative party. Yes, we are a small party and aspire to grow. We have an interim committee that is in the process of recruiting more members and also take us to the upcoming general elections.”

Mr Clark-Lerubisi said the formation of RAP was necessitated by incompetency in the existing political parties.

“The RAP struggle is to take political power out of the hands of the few and put it into the hands of the many. We are ready to jeopardise our economic and social status. Our political thinking is ‘power to the people’,” he said in an interview.

He also said the party’s struggle was based on economic grounds such as jobs, living wage, housing, prices, transportation, arts, common land and social bond, and that the movement owed no allegiance to any system but itself.

“We have learned and continue to learn everyday that the old established political parties offer no solution to our problems. They have reached the end of their political road and cannot re-invent themselves.”

The party’s prospective candidates for the October elections, he noted, would be unveiled during the manifesto launch, which would take place at Gaborone West Community Hall. ENDS