25 Jul 2022

Members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) have been implored to talk about the party’s achievements.

The party chairman and Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane made the call during a South West region congress at Mokhomma, at which delegates were elected to represent the region at  the party’s electoral congress scheduled for Tsabong end of next month.

He informed the members that the BDP, as the party in government, had made great strides, even under the most challenging times, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mr Tsogwane said under President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, government had saved human lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, while delivering on its manifesto promises, which dictated that some planned development projects had to be shelved.

“I can say with confidence that President Masisi managed to steer the country well in those challenging times, prioritising to save lives at the expense of some planned development projects,” he said. 

He said most of the promises that the BDP made to Batswana during the campaign had been achieved, despite the COVID-19 challenge. 

Mr Tsogwane mentioned the new Tribal Land Act, whose objective was to ensure that tribal plots had title deeds, as an example.

Mr Tsogwane cited others such as the constitutional review, whose consultations were on-going and the international push to be involved in the whole diamond beneficiation process.

“As one of the top diamond producing nations, we cannot only be involved in producing rough diamonds and be spectators in the rest of the process. This is also due to the commitment of Dr Masisi, and these are the things that we have to talk about often as democrats,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane said it was a pity there was not much government could do about other issues such as fuel price increases, but promised that interventions such as fuel subsidies would continue to be looked into.

On the affairs of the party, he raised concern about the tendency by some party members to leak confidential discussions such as the recent incident where voice clips of issues discussed at the party’s internal meetings were leaked.

“I am not saying that what was said in the voice clips was not true, but rather the actual leaking,” he said, which he said indicated that some party members entrusted with responsibility could not be trusted.

“This then indicates that we should always ensure that we entrust responsibility to trustworthy people, and this starts with electing the delegates to the national congress because we are giving them the responsibility to elect our central committee, which is technically advisers of the government,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane, who said that he would be defending his position as the party’s national chairman, pleaded with the region to give him a vote together with his running team.

One of the party elders, who is also the deputy mayor for Jwaneng, Mr Keolopile Pema encouraged members to always put their country first when standing for positions, rather than personal interests.

“Standing for positions while eyeing personal interest is the reason most people abandoned the party when they lose, which is not what we desire if we want to build a nation,” he said. 

Mr Pema also urged democrats to be wary of the power of their tongues as uncontrolled, it could destroy the party. Ends