When the opposition forces that coalesced into the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) eventually transformed the Botswana political landscape with a historic electoral victory over the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the October 2024 elections, it was after nigh on six decades of work. That foundational work the proverbial ‘mofufutso wa phatlha’ (the brow of the sweat) of opposition politics, was done by veterans, among them Lenyeletse Koma who passed away on New Year’s Eve. The 86 year-old political stalwart dedicated his earlier adult years to developing the politics of one of the components of the UDC, the Botswana National Front (BNF) and thus helped shape an alternative to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) during the country’s nascent years of party politics.
His younger brother, Mr Olekotse Koma, said in an interview that his elder brother, a nephew of BNF party founder and chief ideologue, the late Dr Kenneth Koma, was the first of the eight children of Mr Ramherong Koma, whose family originated at Ditlharapa Ward, Serowe, but settled in Mahalapye. “Lenyeletse studied at Moeng College alongside the likes of former president Dr Festus Mogae and former cabinet minister and real estate businessman, Mr David Magang. My brother later proceeded to study at university level, up to post graduate masters studies in Soviet Russia, earning qualifications in economics and accounts,” Mr Koma details.
The 1960s saw the centre-right BDP, a moderate political organisation built on conservatism, the principles of democracy and development, and the consultation (therisanyo) of the kgotla system, national cohesion (kagisano) defeating the more radical, Pan-Africanist and African socialist based Botswana People’s Party (BPP). Dr Koma, who returned from studies in Moscow to witness the BDP victory in the March 1965 general elections, founded the BNF, as a mass democratic united front of different class interest groups, with their minimum programme, seeking to unseat the BDP in pursuit of a “national democratic revolution,” social justice and labour rights. “Lenyeletse was one of the early BNF stalwarts, alongside the likes of his uncle Dr Koma, Mareledi Giddie, Klaas Motshidisi, Obonetse Menyatso and others.
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He worked with them to teach the BNF doctrine in party study groups, and went around campaigning to build the movement,” said Mr Koma. Lenyeletse Koma further became one of the founders of Mahalapye Secondary School, which gave an opportunity to pupils from different backgrounds, including those who could not be absorbed into government schools. “Lenyeletse taught at Mahalapye secondary, which drew learners from as far afield as Maun, some of whom were not placed into secondary schools after their primary school leaving examinations.
But Mahalapye secondary worked on building the academic potential of these students as well as their vocational training,” Mr Koma added. He later founded a construction company, which among its project got involved in the building of a primary school in Marapong. Former Lobatse mayor, Mr David Maswabi added that Lenyeletse was one of the activists who inspired them and guided his generation’s activism within the BNF.
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