unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/04/89)
BOTSWANA: General Elections for Desert Democracy Gaborone, September 28, 1989 (AIA/IPS) -- On October 7 more than 360,000 registered voters in this nation of 1.2 million will go to the polls to choose from five political parties in what observers say could be a hard fought contest. This Kalahari desert state, the size of France, is one of the few in Africa which offers regular elections with a choice of parties. Candidates will contest 34 parliamentary constituencies and 254 local government seats. There are three Presidential contestants: current President Quett Masire from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), opposition Botswana National Front (BNF) leader Kenneth Koma, and Botswana Peoples' Party (BPP) leader Knight Maripe. There are 34 parliamentary seats. At dissolution BDP held 29 seats. The official opposition BNF had only four seats followed by the BPP with a lone member. Two other parties, the Botswana Independence Party (BIP) and the Botswana Freedom Party (BFP) hold no seats. The October 7 poll will be the sixth since a 1965 general election under British colonial "protectorate" rule heralded independence in 1966. The BDP won that election with its leader the late Sir Seretse Khama, a member of one of the nation's royal families. Since then the BDP has never lost an election, with its lowest seat total of 24 coming in 1969. The party has built on its strength among the traditional chiefs and rural peasantry. Royal and rich families who count their wealth in vast cattle herds have been generously supported with state incentives and subsidies. Villagers have gained access to basic health, education and social development initiatives. The BPP was the political party which organised workers and urban communities to fight for independence. It has been eclipsed over the years by the BNF which seeks a socialist transformation of the economy. Today BPP is a regional party drawing on feelings of disaffection traditional among the minority Kalanga people who live in the districts surrounding the nation's second city Francistown, in the north. BNF support is drawn from the larger towns in the south of the country, particularly Gaborone and Kanye. During the '80s intensive diamond mining, a seven-year drought, South African destabilisation, and the formation of the Southern Africa Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) have caused stresses and strains that some say could end the BDP's balancing act. Crises caused by a new era of "hyper development" were cited when Opposition leader Koma introduced a motion of no confidence in the government during mid-August. He listed increasing unemployment and housing shortages in urban areas, an education crisis, and lack of rural development. Discovery of diamonds and the influx of companies seeking a way round sanctions to ship products to SADCC member states has brought a flood of money into Botswana. Gaborone has become one of the fastest growing urban areas in Africa. New streets appear every week and a frenzied construction boom is throwing up offices for a thriving service sector. But all the money is going into a few pockets. The BDP's endorsement of traditional capitalist free market principles has put a small middle class in line to get most of the riches. At the same time 100,000 (25 percent) of the 400,000 strong labour force is out of work. For years an innovative co-operative and post-secondary school collective technical training movement meant many young people were either kept off the job market or were streamed into local initiatives where they applied their trades to community needs. Yet the movement suffered from chronic under capitalisation (much investment coming from NGOs like Canada's CUSO), and poor financial management. The BDP's February 1988 budget reformed the nation's economic and financial environment. Local co-operative structures were placed second as future development was pinned to the attraction of multinational corporations and international capital to mega projects. (See SAO-8803007, SAC Vol 1, April 1988) As one observer from a co-operative institution says, "The net effect is a slow but perceptible separation between the rich and the poor as some people turn their backs on the traditional sense of sharing and responsibility which has bound the nation together." But there have been successes. Late in the '70s the BDP government listened when scientists said a decade of drought was on the horizon. Committees were formed and community survival plans were built around drought relief. The drought came and lasted until 1987. In other nations millions died. In Botswana some people lost their villages to sand but few died. One startling statistic had the numbers of well-nourished babies per thousand go up during the drought. Today the nation's efforts are seen as a model for other African states. This attention to the needs of the rural majority has forged a bond between the BDP and the people which will be hard to break. Typical are the comments of a primary school teacher who lost her village along the dried-up Lake Ngami to drought and now must travel a bone-crunching road to work and buy supplies. "The road has not been fixed for years. But as soon as our local leaders get to see how bad it is they will have it fixed, I am sure". Enough leaders still respond to enough community demands that few believe the BDP's peasant support will erode this time round. Chances of BDP re-election are heightened by an ideological battle which has torn apart the BNF. Party members in the stronghold area of Kanye say revised policies have opened the door to "communists". They have challenged BNF's advocacy of a one-party state, and curbs on press and religious freedom. Eleven key members have been either suspended or expelled. The BNF sitting MP for Kanye, Leach Tlhomelang has set up his own Botswana Freedom Party and is tipped to hold his seat. * Origin: AlterNet Better World Communications (1:163/113) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726 patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733 patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud) -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-