Matshekge victim speaks out

Chakalisa Dube | Monday August 22, 2022 06:00

In fact, last month marked five years since the much-publicised confrontation amongst BMD members at Matshekge Senior Secondary School in Bobonong.

During the time, BMD supporters for both Ndaba Gaolathe and Sidney Pilane factions engaged in a brutal fight at the party’s congress.

Both camps were fighting for the ownership of the party. At the time of his injury, Tsiara (from Gaolathe’s faction) maintained that the Pilane camp was in the wrong.

But the Pilane faction has maintained the contrary in various media platforms. The fight amongst BMD supporters broke out after Pilane’s faction denied Gaolathe’s entrance into the congress venue.

Members of the Gaolathe faction claimed that they were legitimate congress delegates and were not supposed to be denied entry to the congress while Pilane’s team maintained an opposing position. Gaolathe and his team ended up being totally locked out of the congress venue and Pilane was later in the day elected the BMD president.

At the height of the tension (on the day of the congress), the two factions pelted stones at each other, an incident that landed Tsiara and one Phodiso Keiponye (two Gaolathe supporters), in hospital. Tsiara experienced severe injuries. He suffered permanent damage to his left eye.

This week, Tsiara spoke briefly about the morning when everything changed for him.

In total, four people from Gaolathe’s faction were injured but two were treated at hospital and released on the same day as they had suffered less threatening injuries. Tsiara was admitted at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital in Serowe. He would be released days after the incident.

“I will never forget the incident but do not regret anything. I got injured doing what I loved the most which is political activism,” said the 69-year-old Maun based businessman.

Initially, Tsiara was also a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) councillor from 1999 until 2004, in Maun. He was amongst the founders of the BMD, a breakaway movement from the BDP in 2010. Additionally, at the time of his injury, Tsiara was the chairperson for the BMD Maun West branch.

When members of the Gaolathe faction left the BMD to form the Alliance for Progressives (AP) in September 2017, Tsiara became the new party’s Maun West branch chairperson until last year when he retraced his footsteps to the ruling party.

Tsiara stated that after the incident he had to bear the anguish and pain of people who mocked him saying that he did not get injured for a decent cause.

“What kept me going was that I knew that I went to Matshekge not knowing that I will be injured. You cannot predict the future. I was very unfortunate. I went there to attend the congress not to fight. The support from my family also kept going at the time (when he was trying to come to terms with his injury). I have now come to terms with my situation,” said the married father of four.

The 69-year-old pointed out that despite being partially blind he is leading a normal live and continues to run his shopping complex in Maun.

Although he maintains that he will never forget the incident that left him disabled, Tsiara noted that the thought of leaving politics has never even crossed his mind.

He, however, noted that he only wants to remain as an ordinary activist and is no longer interested in contesting for any party position.

“I enjoyed my stay in the AP, but there were several factors that influenced my decision to go back to the BDP. One of them was that I felt that President Mokgweetsi Masisi is steering the BDP and the country in a good direction. To me, he is doing well. The BDP is slowly regaining its vigour.”

Although he does not reveal much, he also says that he was not happy with a few factors in the AP.