AP renounces Kgoroba-led 'splinter'
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday May 16, 2023 06:00
During a press conference held recently, Kgoroba revealed that together with a few others have split from the AP because the party leadership has decided to join the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
The emergence of the faction comes after Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and its ally, Botswana Labour Party (BLP) were dumped by the AP leadership in their cooperation talks, a decision that has divided the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) splinter party.
In a brief interview with The Monitor, AP secretary-general, Phenyo Butale was quick to indicate that there are no factions in the AP and that the party is very much still united. “There is no one in all leadership structures being the central committee (CC), Regional Committees, and branch committees who are associated with the Mogoditshane group,” he added.
Kgoroba recently stated that the decision by the AP leadership to join the UDC is in total violation of the AP congress resolution. He said at their congress it was stated that the AP should form a coalition with like-minded parties. The former Mogoditshane legislator said the AP congress made it very clear that the UDC is out of bounds because it is not like-minded.
However, he confirmed that only another congress resolution can change that directive not other structures of the party. Asked why the AP leadership decided to ignore the congress resolution, Butale said the CC didn't violate any congress resolution. “In actual fact, we are carrying out the assignment diligently through our efforts to negotiate and ultimately work together as a united force,” he said.
After withdrawing from cooperation talks with the BCP and BLP, there are reports that the AP leadership didn’t sit down with disgruntled members to find a possible common ground. The AP leadership is said to have taken the matter lightly and dismissed Kgoroba and the company because they are small in number. Speaking of small in number, AP chairperson Pius Mokgware told this publication last week that the Kgoroba-led 'faction' is only six in number.
“It has to be clear that Kgoroba who is currently leading that team, is not our member and he resigned from the AP last month. The ones who are supporting him are just six in number. This is a small number and our members know the reason why we had to withdraw from the talks,” he highlighted.
Even though the AP leadership is convinced that Kgoroba doesn’t have the numbers to break their party, Kgoroba claims that more AP members who do not want to join the UDC will soon board their ship.
He stated that they are yet to negotiate with other AP members who still believe in the 'New Botswana'. “We still consider ourselves a movement but I can assure you that we cannot join the UDC or Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). We believe within the realms of the AP several others share the same view as we do but are at a crossroads as to where to go, how to go, and with whom to go.”