BPP, ex-SG smoke peace pipe
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday January 24, 2022 06:00
According to a resolution that was taken over the weekend after the national executive committee (NEC) of the BPP held its meeting at Selepa Hotel here, Galetshabiwe was accepted back into the BPP fold after he wrote a letter of apology to the party seeking to be reinstated. The deputy SG of the BPP, Tiroyaone Ntsima, who was a parliamentary candidate for the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in the 2019 general election and a Botswana Congress Party (BCP) member then, confirmed the new developments to Mmegi on Tuesday in an interview. “The issue of welcoming our former SG Galetshabiwe was concluded over the weekend at our NEC meeting. He wrote a letter of apology to be accepted back into the party and his welcome back into the BPP is one of the resolutions that the party made at its NEC meeting.
He has been accepted back as an ordinary member after his expulsion from the party last year,” said Ntsima. In the aftermath of Ntsima’s expulsion from the BPP, he at one point contemplated taking the party to court in a bid to be reinstated but he. however, did not carry out that legal threat. Galetshabiwe’s expulsion from the BPP reportedly divided it. Some members of the central committee of the BPP additional member Cornelius Gopolang, youth league chairperson Thato Ntwaetsile, national organising secretary Mbaakanyi Smarts and party chairperson Richard Gudu were against Galetshabiwe’s expulsion from the BPP.
They were of the view that Galetshabiwe’ sacking from the BPP was not procedural. Galetshabiwe lamented then: “The president of BPP Motlatsi Molapise did not follow the BPP constitution when he expelled me from the party. To the best of my interpretation of the party constitution, the extension of my suspension beyond the initial 45 days was not constitutional. After issuing a second suspension beyond 45 days, Molapise dismissed me from the party. My expulsion was not endorsed by other members of the central committee, which means that it was unconstitutional.
It was taken at a meeting that did not form a quorum.” Galetshabiwe was also of the view that the BPP did not even call him for a hearing after it took the decision to expel him adding that his sacking was grossly unfair and unprocedural. At a central committee meeting of the BPP to expel Galetshabiwe and suspend its ordinary member Joseph Mogatle from its ranks last year, Gopolang, Ntwaetsile, Smarts and Gudu walked out of the meeting. The meeting was later attended by three members, hence, this fortified Galetshabiwe’s view that the meeting was not constitutional because it did not form a quorum. Among other resolutions that the BPP took during its weekend meeting, it resolved to prepare for its elective congress on a date to be decided by the central committee during its meeting on February 12, 2022.
The BPP also resolved to revive its constituency committees, regional committees, Youth League and Women’s Wing that were inactive due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and also prepare for the UDC NEC meeting. “We also resolved to actively have a presence in tertiary institutions. This is a new norm that we have not traversed in a long period of time,” said an optimistic Ntsima.