Yesterday evening, senior leaders of the faction met in Gaborone where they reportedly resolved that they could no longer wait for the intervention of the Umbrella for Democratic Change’s National Executive Committee (UDC NEC). The UDC NEC was charged with hearing from the warring BMD factions and deciding on the way forward. Last week, the Sidney Pilane-led faction of the BMD requested a deferment to September of its UDC NEC hearing, saying Pilane and other NEC leaders were unavailable. Meanwhile, during their hearing on Tuesday, the Gaolathe camp, which came armed with witnesses and regional chairpersons, gave the UDC NEC until August 31 to have resolved the crisis.
Yesterday, several sources said the Gaolathe faction had run out of patience with the UDC NEC and the Pilane camp, and had decided to pursue registration of a breakaway party. Names being proposed include the Botswana People’s Movement and Botswana Progressive Movement, while the party colour is reportedly purple. “During consultations with the structures, people have been pushing for the formation of a new party, but the leadership has been saying we should wait for the UDC NEC,” a highly placed insider said. “A time-frame was given to the leaders to resolve this through the UDC NEC.
