The University of Botswana Congress for Democracy- Botswana Congress Party (UBCD-BCP), has this morning thrown it’s last kicks while accepting defeat after being elbowed out of the Moono Wa Baithuti.
UBCD-BCP was expelled from the Moono Wa Baithuti recently in the run-up to 2021/2022 Student Representative Council (SRC) elections. Moono Wa Baithuti is a student wing of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) at University of Botswana (UB) hence it was formerly known as UB UDC.
According to Eric Karabelo of the UBCD-BCP, Mass BNF (Movement Against Student Suppression- Botswana National Front) kicked UBCD-BCP out following a series of internal fights. Karabelo says the fights were so bad that they led to several police cases. He says they then asked the UDC central committee to intervene but that did not bear fruits, instead UDC President Duma Gideon Boko took a side of Mass BNF.
On the contrary, sources within the Mass BNF cite that the fights broke up within the 2020/2021 SRC cabinet due to UBCD-BCP backstabbing the Mass BNF. The sources reveal that the members of UBCD-BCP within the SRC cabinet aligned themselves with the SRC President. The SRC President was a sole member of GS26 BDP (Botswana Democratic Party) within the cabinet. However UBCD-BCP argues that they did not side with the president but cited the constitution.
Following the unsuccessful intervention by the UDC center commitee, the UBCD-BCP together with Student Patriotic Front (SPF) formed a cabinet and called themselves Moono Wa Baithuti. On the other side, Mass BNF and UB Progressives had their own Moono Wa Baithuti. However, this week SPF formed it’s own cabinet to contest SRC elections this upcoming Friday against Moono Wa Baithuti (Mass BNF and UB Progressives) and GS26 BDP. As such the UBCD-BCP will not be contesting this year.
“It is true that UBCD-BCP will not be contesting SRC elections. We will be busy building our structures at the University. We are a party which believes in structures, and that they should be built in a transparent way. As such we will be building our structures, not only in UB, but outside also. What I can assure you is that, the BCP is committed to the coalition despite the challenges faced at UB with other contracting partners. We urge our youth to run behind the BCP, because a very strong BCP can contribute to the strong UDC. So all parties must work hard to build their parties so that we can win in 2024.” Tlhabologo Furniture, BCP Youth League President confirmed.
