Butale is still no BPF member – Reatile
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday July 31, 2023 06:00
But vice president and supposedly acting president of the party, Mephato Reatile, says Butale is still expelled and that his fate is yet to be decided in a different court case. Butale won yet another court case this week in as many rounds against his nemesis within the party, the people he feels some power hungry members of his party want to ‘steal’ his presidency.
It seems like Butale’s victory was short-lived because there is yet another case he filed before Broadhurst Magistrate’s Court and in this one he is contesting his suspension and expulsion from the party.
On July 4, Butale was suspended by the party’s disciplinary committee and was accused of having caused and encouraged some members of the party to campaign against the BPF and its decisions at the recent Mmaphula East ward by-election. He was also accused of having failed to declare funds received on behalf of the party and for allegedly working with party rivals to destabilise the BPF. Following his suspension, Butale retaliated by recalling his vice president, Reatile, the secretary for information and publicity, Lawrence Ookeditse, and the secretary for health, Kolaatamo Malefho, from their positions in the National Executive Committee (NEC) and suspended them from the party in the “interest of peace and stability". Butale further cited "indiscipline, insubordination, and causing divisions in the party" as reasons to suspend the trio for bringing the party into "disrepute” and "threatening its survival". Butale’s action infuriated the DC and secretary-general (SG) Tshekedi Khama later announced that the DC had expelled him because he (Butale) had violated the conditions of his suspension. Butale was accused of convening meetings in Palapye and Mahalapye presenting as a member of the BPF NEC and further conducting media interviews wherein he dismissed his suspension.
The DC revealed that with a quorum of five members it met on July 12 and recommended Butale’s expulsion. The BPF NEC allegedly met and expelled Butale on July 13. On the same day, Butale then wrote a letter to Tshekedi pointing out that the BPF NEC and DC do not have the capacity to suspend or expel him from the BPF.
He indicated that the DC was not properly constituted in terms of the constitution and that members who sat were not appointed by the NEC specifically the author of his suspension letter, Barulaganye Letang. Despite this correspondence to Tshekedi, Butale on July 14 having failed to get control of the party from Reatile and company, decided to approach court on urgency to return to the helm of the party. In his founding affidavit, Butale wants his purported suspension and subsequent expulsion through correspondence of Letang and Khama as issued on July 4, 2023 and July 13, 2023 respectively be stayed. He also wants to remain recognised as president, per the present matter, and in line with a rule nisi issued by Judge Michael Motlhabi. He also wants his purported suspension and subsequent expulsion be declared unlawful and consequently, that any and all purported NEC meetings held subsequent to the unlawful suspension or expulsion are unlawful and thereby any resolution or action following there from void.
Butale also wants an order declaring that the respondents’ conduct, in perpetuating an unlawful suspension and expulsion against him, then proceeding to remove him from the official party NEC WhatsApp group, thereafter calling NEC meetings without his involvement, is contrary to the BPF at article 20.6.1, and further is contemptuous of an order of court issued on April 26, 2023. This matter will continue on July 31 and Reatile this week at the press briefing highlighted that the unresolved matter still puts Butale on the sidelines. “Butale recognises his expulsion because he approached the court to reverse this. That means at the moment he is neither the leader nor a member of the BPF until the courts makes a final resolution.
Had the DC not taken any action against him, Butale could have been president now. We wanted to differentiate these two different courts cases,” he indicated. Reatile said Butale will return to the presidency of the party if he wins the current case. “We respect Motlhabi’s judgment but this matter remains unresolved because there is a subsequent matter involving Butale and the DC,” he said. Reatile added the fact that the NEC had suspended Butale and the matter was in court didn’t mean the DC could not suspend him for a different matter. Reiterating what Reatile said, party spokesperson Ookeditse said Butale is not a member and therefore anything he does in the name of the BPF is illegitimate. “Members, stakeholders and everyone are informed that Butale doesn’t represent the BPF and if anyone is engaged by Butale know that you are doing that at your own risk,” Ookeditse warned. He said even though the matter is still before court, any administrative body’s decision still stands until the court says otherwise.