Daniel Kwele was a Botswanan politician, and a co-founder of the Botswana National Front, along with Kenneth Koma.
Kwele eventually became a member of parliament, a cabinet minister and joined the Botswana Democratic Party [1] . He died in 1991 [2] and was interred in Francistown, where, on the 50th anniversary of his party's founding, there was a jubilee. [3] [4]
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 per cent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the northeast. With a population of slightly over 2.4 million people and a comparable land area to France, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, who constitute nearly 80 per cent of the population.
The President of the Republic of Botswana is the head of state and the head of government of Botswana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, according to the Constitution of Botswana. Sir Seretse Khama was the prime minister from 1965 to 1966, however he later became president of Botswana, and as of 2024 there have been no prime ministers since.
The Botswana Democratic Party,, is a centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's inaugural election in 1965 until the 2024 general election the party governed the country without interruption for 58 years. At the time of its defeat, the BDP was the longest continuous ruling party in the democratic world.
The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It was the main opposition party in Botswana from the 1969 elections until the 2024 elections.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. Founded in 1998 as a result of a split from the Botswana National Front (BNF), the party attracted most of the BNF's sitting MPs due to a leadership dispute involving the BNF's leader, Kenneth Koma.
The Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) was a progressive political party in Botswana, led by Ephraim Lepetu Setshwaelo. Prior to the 2009 election the party entered into an electoral pact with the Botswana Congress Party. In the 2009 elections, the party won a seat in the National Assembly of Botswana for the first time.
Elections in Botswana take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a parliamentary system. The National Assembly is mostly directly elected, and in turn elects the President and some of its own members. The Ntlo ya Dikgosi is a mixture of appointed, hereditary and indirectly elected members.
General elections were held in Botswana on 16 October 1999, alongside local elections. The result was an eighth straight victory for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which increased its majority to 33 of the 40 elected seats in the National Assembly.
General elections were held in Botswana on 15 October 1994, alongside simultaneous local elections. The result was a victory for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which had won every election since 1965. However, the elections also saw a strong performance from the Botswana National Front (BNF), which tripled its number of MPs and won all four seats in the capital Gaborone.
General elections were held in Botswana on 7 October 1989, alongside local elections. The result was the sixth straight landslide victory for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which won 31 of the 34 elected seats.
General elections were held in Botswana on 16 October 2009, alongside local elections, with early voting in 26 polling stations abroad taking place 3 October. The result was a tenth successive victory for the Botswana Democratic Party, which won 45 of the 57 elected seats in the National Assembly.
Seretse Khama Ian Khama is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force, he entered politics and was Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, then succeeded Festus Mogae as President on 1 April 2008. He won a full term in the 2009 election and was re-elected in October 2014.
General elections were held in Botswana on 18 October 1969, the first since independence in September 1966. The result was a second successive landslide victory for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), who won 24 of the 31 elected seats, including three in which they were unopposed.
General elections were held in Botswana on 26 October 1974. With 205,050 registered voters, turnout was just 31.22%. The result was a third successive landslide victory for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), who won 27 of the 32 elected seats, including four in which they were unopposed. Local elections were held on the same day, with a turnout of just 30.3%, and saw the BDP strengthen its position.
The Botswana Workers Front was a political party in Botswana. The party was founded by Shawn Nthaile in September 1993 at a special congress in Mahalapye, following his departure from the Botswana National Front. Nthaile charged that he had been kept out of senior positions in BNF due to his ethnic affiliation. Through the BWF Nthaile sought to promote the interests of labourers and his own Bakgalagadi ethnic group. The symbol of BWF was the hammer and sickle. The party was based in Jwaneng. At the time of the 1994 parliamentary election BWF joined the United Democratic Front, a coalition of parties opposed to both the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the BNF. No BWF nor any other UDF candidate was able to get elected.
General and local elections were held in Botswana on 24 October 2014. The result was an eleventh straight victory for the Botswana Democratic Party, which won 37 of the 57 elected seats. Incumbent president Ian Khama was sworn in for a second term on 28 October.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is a centre-left to left-wing alliance of political parties in Botswana. Since the 2024 Botswana general election, the UDC has been the governing alliance of political parties.
Duma Gideon Boko is a Botswana politician and lawyer currently serving as the sixth president of Botswana since 1 November 2024 and as leader of the Umbrella for Democratic Change since 2012. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from 2014 to 2019.
Bathoen Seepapitso Gaseitsiwe also known as Bathoen II was a Motswana Kgosi, jurist and politician who served as Chief of the Bangwaketse from 1928 to 1969. He served as Chairman of the Botswana National Front (BNF) from 1966 to 1985, Leader of the Opposition from 1969 to 1984 and President of the Court of Appeal from 1985 until his death in 1990. He represented the Kanye South constituency in the National Assembly for three consecutive terms. As the leader of the BNF, the then second largest political party in the country, he was the main opponent of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government, led by Seretse Khama and Quett Masire, during the first two decades of the African country's independence.