Human rights lawyer Duma Boko is the next president of Botswana. (Photo from the 2012 2nd CGDC Annual Meeting: Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
No one saw it coming.
“I don't know what happened…what caused us to lose power,” Slumber Tsogwane said last Friday. Tsogwane chairs the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which has ruled since independence. A humiliating defeat in last week's parliamentary elections ended 58 years of rule.
Mr Tsogwane lost his seat, along with other BDP MPs. The party that wins the most seats in Congress appoints the president. The BDP won just three out of 61 seats, with party leader President Mokgweetsi Masisi admitting defeat on Friday.
“President Masisi has failed to bring the BDP together and has failed to address the country’s economic downturn… [and oversaw] It is an erosion of democratic principles,” said Pamela Dube, a gender and political activist from Gaborone.
The next president will be Duma Boko, a human rights lawyer and leader of the United Democratic Congress, who won the 31 seats needed to form a government. The UDC promises to improve the country's minimum wage and has gained support among young people.
This promise of the BDP could not have been trusted given that the Masisi government was struggling to turn around the economic downturn caused by the decline in global diamond prices.
Gems contribute up to 40% of Botswana's income. As sales slumped, so did the economy, and the unemployment rate rose to 27%.
The UDC promised to introduce a new economic model focused on job creation and wealth distribution plans to empower all citizens.
As new MP Kgoborego Nakwane points out, now is the time to do this because “many young people are struggling, and the majority are living on government handouts because they don't have jobs.” No.
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