Election fever is touching new highs each day in Botswana as polling day inches ever closer but the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has not been spared from the tense atmosphere.
It all started with opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) parliamentary candidate Dithapelo Keorapetse using some of the questions he had asked in Parliament to accompany his campaign material such as posters.
This did not go down with the BDF, which argued that by so doing the former legislator was flouting part of the BDF Act that requires the army to avoid involvement in partisan politics.
BDF spokesperson Tebo Dikole said the army has “noted with regret” that some political figures are using the photographs of the army officers on their political campaigns particularly on social media.
“The case in point is (sic) the posts circulating in social media depicting BDF members on Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse’s UDC online campaign posts. This trend does not only discredit the BDF as an apolitical organization, but also creates a false perception associating the BDF with such political parties, which is against the laws of Botswana,” Dikole said in an emailed statement.
He said the BDF Act prohibits members of the BDF from participating in partisan politics, “hence we cannot be associated with an individual organization or movement of a political character.”
He said the BDF cannot deny any political figure to refer to it in their campaigns. However, images of soldiers and officers cannot be used in campaign materials “without due consideration.”
According to Dikole, using an army officer’s image may be misconstrued to associate such an individual with the political party in question, hence contravening the BDF Act.
“It is on this account that the BDF wishes to inform the concerned political parties and individuals to act responsibly by desisting from using photographs depicting any BDF activity, equipment, personnel in uniform or any other things that may be deemed to be associated with the BDF for political gain or for anything that is likely to create the impression that it was for political gain,” Dikole said.
Keorapetse however said he took the decision to include pictures of the soldiers in his campaign material as a way of showing how his party cares about the welfare of soldiers.
He added that he had used debates in the recently dissolved Parliament as a way of showing that they are fighting for the army’s conditions of service.
Other opposition activists took to social media, accusing the BDF of double standards.
They argued that President Mokgweetsi Masisi and some members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) are transported in the army aircraft to campaign for their party.
“Colonel Dikole please clarify this: which is worse, a BDF helicopter ferrying BDP members to a political rally piloted by a member of the BDF in uniform and a photo of the BDF members used to illustrate the need for improvement of conditions for BDF personnel?” UDC activist Edward Tswaipe wrote on Twitter.
Botswana will hold its tightly contested general election on 23 October and observers say the ruling party and opposition coalition are so close in the polls that both are vying for something that will tip the scale in their favour.
KO/jn/APA