Butale supporters on attack mode
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday January 24, 2022 06:00
Butale’s sympathisers within the BPF’s national executive committee (NEC) and (their names withheld) have told Mmegi that they will raise his suspension issue during the next NEC meeting that will be held on February 7, 2022.
Butale’s disciplinary hearing has been pending for over seven months with COVID-19 restrictions being cited in September last year as the main stumbling block for the hearing to be held. Initially, Butale’s disciplinary hearing was supposed to be held in May last year but was postponed to July 2021. In July, the party postponed the hearing indefinitely.
The former BPF president faces a series of charges including sexual allegations levelled against him by a female university student and party activist. Furthermore, Butale is accused of convening a meeting at a farm near Mahalapye aimed at paralysing the BPF and which had the potential to bring the name of the party into disrepute.
Insiders within the BPF are worried that Butale’s indefinite suspension has the potential to put the name of the party into disrepute if his hearing is not held. They therefore want the hearing to be held by an impartial panel so that Butale may have the opportunity to answer for his alleged transgressions.
Butale's supporters are of the view that his suspension is just a conspiracy theory against him. Therefore, they say it is not surprising that Butale’s hearing has not been held ever since various charges were laid against him because the BPF knows that the charges against him are unfounded.
“The various charges against Butale are just a political witchhunt and are only meant to achieve certain political interests. They will not hold water during an impartial hearing hence we will fight tooth and nail for Butale’s hearing to be expedited,” said an NEC source, adding that the charges against Butale are unconstitutional. When asked about Butale’s hearing, BPF spokesperson Lawrence Ookeditse told Mmegi that he cannot comment on the matter with third parties because doing so has the potential to pre-empt the outcome of the hearing.
“Because Butale’s issue is a disciplinary matter, it is just like a case before court and generally you don’t want to be discussing it so as to not affect its outcome in any way. So I think the best thing to do is to just wait to a point when it will be finally over,” said Ookeditse.