UDC on BCP’s absence
Chakalisa Dube - Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday August 15, 2022 06:00
The UDC claims that the BCP has suspended itself from the UDC NEC meetings and as such there was no need to send an invite for the meeting (that welcomed the BPF into the UDC) last Saturday.
In an interview this week, UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa explained that the arrival of the BPF into the UDC was not a rushed decision and should not come as a surprise.
The BCP is part of the UDC together with the Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and the Botswana National Front (BNF) (before the arrival of the BPF). Late last Saturday the UDC surprised many by announcing that the BPF has joined the coalition.
That was after a meeting between officials from the BPF and the UDC. It later emerged that the BCP did not have representation at the meeting, which welcomed the BPF into the coalition.
The BPF now have equal representation and rights in the UDC NEC. The BCP is currently engaged in a bitter feud with the BPP and BNF. The party has indicated that if governance issues are not resolved in the coalition within the next six months it will leave with a view of working with the Alliance for Progressives (AP) at the next general elections. Mohwasa explained that the reason the BCP was not invited for the meeting is that after the decision to suspend its president Dumelang Saleshando and secretary-general Goretetse Kekgonegile from the coalition NEC, the BCP, through its two remaining representatives, made it clear that it will be suspending its participation in the UDC NEC.
Kekgonegile and Saleshando were suspended for speaking openly about governance challenges in the UDC. The two were suspended for three months pending a disciplinary hearing.
“This (BCP remaining members in the coalition NEC) they said will be the case for the duration of the suspension of the two. They subsequently walked out. We will, however, be sending a report from the weekend meeting with BPF to them as we still see them as part of the UDC. In short they have suspended themselves from UDC,” Mohwasa.
The UDC’s position is thought provoking because the BCP recently announced that it would remain in the coalition for the next six months with the hope that governance challenges will be resolved. Mohwasa added: “What happened over the weekend (welcoming BPF) was essentially an implementation of one of the resolutions of the June 25th meeting.
The item on the invitation of the AP and the BPF into the UDC was dealt with before the one that resolved to suspend Saleshando and Kekgonegile.” On Wednesday, Saleshando seemed shocked by the decision not to invite the BCP to a UDC meeting with the BPF.
He said when he was suspended from the UDC together with Kekgonegile, the thinking was that only individuals have been suspended from the coalition not the entire BCP. He added: “The recent decision by the UDC NEC not to invite us shows that they do not want us to be part of the coalition.” Saleshando said that he does not have a position on the decision to welcome the BPF into the UDC.