It has been the tradition of the party that sitting presidents are given a free walk but this time around, indications are very strong that President Mogae will be challenged.
Information reaching Mmegi is that Mogae will only know his challenger for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership 24 hours before the contest at a special party congress on April 24.
According to BDP regulations, a challenger for the party presidency can only be named 24 hours before the elections.
The congress will elect the BDP president who will lead the party to the general elections later this year.
Mogae has declared that he will be in the race. The announcement has been interpreted as an attempt to pre-empt potential challengers. Former party chairman, Ponatshego Kedikilwe who seems to have weathered the storm following his defeat by Vice-President Ian Khama for the party chairmanship, has not come out to say whether he would challenge Mogae or not. This may be very unsettling to Mogae.
For sometime now Kedikilwe has been Mogae’s chief rival in the BDP and there has been persistent talk that he might be gearing for the presidential seat. There is a feeling that he has recovered sufficiently from the Khama defeat because his allies dominated the BDP primaries. Should he enter the race for the BDP presidency, it would be the first time that the party would witness a challenge against its leader.
BDP executive secretary, Botsalo Ntuane told Mmegi on Thursday that preparations for the special congress scheduled for April 24 at Boipuso Hall are advanced.
“This will be a one item congress whose mandate will be the election of the party president,” he said adding that all the 57 constituencies and the 12 regions are expected to be represented.
“We have already instructed the relevant party structures to commence the selection of delegates,” he said.
He explained that each region may nominate a name of an aspirant in good standing from any region. A member of the party can also nominate a candidate but this has to be not less than 24 hours before the start of the special congress.
Ntuane said however a candidate nominated by a member would have to be sponsored in writing by not less than 50 delegates to the congress.
“What this means is that we will not know (officially at least) the names of the aspirants for the party presidency until 24 hours before the special congress,” he concluded.
