MELS Movement of Botswana

{{short description|Defunct Marxist political party in Botswana}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = MELS Movement of Botswana

| logo = MELS Movement Botswana symbol.png

| colorcode = {{party color|MELS Movement of Botswana}}

| leader =

| president = Themba Joina

| chairman =

| general_secretary =

| first_secretary = Mosalage Ditshoto

| secretary_general =

| merged = Botswana Congress Party

| dissolution = 2013

| presidium =

| secretary =

| spokesperson =

| foundation = 1984 as a study movement, 1994 as political party

| ideology = {{ubl|Communism|Marxism–Leninism|Stalinism|Maoism|Anti-revisionism|Pan-Africanism}}

| position = Far-left

| headquarters = GaboroneIndependent Electoral Commission of Botswana. [http://www.iec.gov.bw/index.php/poli-parties-nav/100-mels MELS Movement Botswana] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121127212854/http://www.iec.gov.bw/index.php/poli-parties-nav/100-mels |date=2012-11-27 }}

| international =

| website =

| country = Botswana

}}

The MELS Movement of Botswana was an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in Botswana without parliamentary representation. Themba Joina, a practicing lawyer, was the president of the organization.Weekend Post. [http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1861%3Athe-origins-of-mels-the-great-phatshwe&Itemid=68 The origins of MELS - The Great Phatshwe]Mmegi Online [http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=132&dir=2011/September/Wednesday21 Botswana silent on Manzunzu fraud charges] The name MELS is derived from (Karl) Marx, (Friedrich) Engels, (Vladimir) Lenin and (Joseph) Stalin.Fombad, Charles Manga. [https://books.google.com/books?id=K3URmAtiO3QC&pg=PA14 Media Law in Botswana]. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 2011. p. 14

MELS emerged as a study group inspired by Mao Zedong and Pan-Africanism, founded at the Shashe Senior Secondary School in 1984. Its founding general secretary was Christopher Phatshwe.Daily News. [https://archive.today/20121130161833/http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20041020 BOPA News on 20 October 2004] The basic political documents of the movement were drafted by Christopher Phatshswe and Thomson Proctor. Branches of the movement were formed at different educational institutions, such as the University of Botswana, Senior Secondary Schools and teacher training colleges. According to Joina, the group had contacts with the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BCM(A)) and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) in neighbouring South Africa and MELS activists received political trainings from these groups. The MELS group constituting itself as a political party in 1994. Following Phatshwe's death, Mosalage Ditshoto became the new general secretary of the party. As of 2008, Mpho Mokano served as the youth secretary of the party.Mmegi Online. [http://72.167.255.126/index.php?sid=2&aid=5&dir=2008/July/Wednesday9 MELS against Zim elections petition] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121130003859/http://72.167.255.126/index.php?sid=2&aid=5&dir=2008/July/Wednesday9 |date=2012-11-30 }}

The MELS Movement advocated for socialist policies, calling for support to unemployed and the setting up of Student Representative Councils across the country.Daily News. [https://archive.today/20121127192327/http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=19990818 BOPA News on 18 August 1999] They decried the Botswana Democratic Party's rule as 'neo-colonial'. Regarding regional issues, MELS Movement opposed the positions of Ian Khama's government towards the contemporary political situation in Zimbabwe (charging the Botswana government with having sided with the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwean politics).Sunday Standard. [http://www.sundaystandard.info/print_article.php?NewsID=6997 ‘Khama must apologize to Mugabe’ - MELS] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130218085122/http://www.sundaystandard.info/print_article.php?NewsID=6997 |date=2013-02-18 }} At the 2011 annual delegates conference of the party in Molepolole, Joina condemned the NATO attack on Libya and called on the African Union to intervene.Mmegi Online. [http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=545&dir=2011/July/Wednesday27 MELS calls for AU military intervention in Libya]

At the time of the 1994 parliamentary election, MELS joined the United Democratic Front, a coalition of parties opposed to both the BDP and the BNF. No MELS nor any other UDF candidate was able to get elected.Sebudubudu, David and Bertha Z. Osie-Hwedie. [http://www.giga-hamburg.de/openaccess/afrikaspectrum/2006_1/giga_as_2006_1_sebudubudu.pdf Pitfalls of parliamentary democracy in Botswana] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401023909/https://www.giga-hamburg.de/openaccess/afrikaspectrum/2006_1/giga_as_2006_1_sebudubudu.pdf |date=1 April 2022 }} The party contested the 1999 general election, but merely received twenty-two votes (0.01% of the national vote).Electoral Commissions Forum (Southern African Development Community), and Denis Kadima. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sCEWAQAAIAAJ Botswana Elections Observer Mission Report, 16 October 1999]. Auckland Park, South Africa: Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, 1999. p. 24 Prior to the election, Joina stated that the party only possessed one campaign vehicle and thus party activists had to move by foot to reach voters.Daily News. [https://archive.today/20121129045602/http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=19991020 BOPA News on 20 October 1999] Following the election the MELS Movement candidate in the Gaborone West constituency, Ndiye Tlhatlogang, charged the Independent Electoral Commission with irregularities.Daily News. [https://archive.today/20121128205459/http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=19991022 BOPA News on 22 October 1999]

At the 2009 general election, the party presented candidates in four parliamentary constituencies and two in local constituencies. None were elected.Mmegi Online [http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=190&dir=2009/November/Tuesday3 Joina wants social democratic parties to unite] In total the party got 292 votes (0.05% of the national vote).Independent Electoral Commission of Botswana. [http://www.iec.gov.bw/attachments/087_2009%20General%20Elections%20Report.pdf 2009 General Elections Report]{{dead link|date=April 2016}} The party contested the 2010 by-election in the Tonota North parliamentary constituency, fielding Mbayani Tshekedi Phalalo as its candidate.Mmegi Online. [http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=4229&dir=2010/August/Thursday19 MELS accuses media of blackout in Tonota North]Sunday Standard. [http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=8565&GroupID=1 MELS dismisses opposition coalition in Tonota North Constituency] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822131112/http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=8565&GroupID=1 |date=August 22, 2010 }}

The party merged into the centre-left Botswana Congress Party in 2013.{{Cite web |date=2013-11-14 |title=Cracks emerge in BCP/MELS merger |url=https://www.thegazette.news/latest-news/cracks-emerge-in-bcpmels-merger/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Botswana Gazette |language=en}}