Modernizing the Botswana National Front: a case for political marketing

Abstract

This paper argues that the choice of a younger and more popular, Duma Boko as president of the opposition Botswana National Front in 2010 was a good move for the party. However, this is not enough. The party needs to take a further step and revolutionize its policies and rhetoric. A comparison is made between the BNF and the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Both parties have a history of trade union support and leftist ideology. They have also faced similar challenges and the BNF can learn from Labour. It must modernize and utilize the tools of political marketing. Boko must do what Blair did with Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution which ensured that that Labour won the general elections in 1997. The argument is that communist or socialist rhetoric was relevant until the 1980s and has now run its course as a political strategy. It must be replaced with rhetoric that strikes the right chord with voters.