BPF faces imminent break up
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday August 7, 2023 06:00
The Biggie Butale and Mephato Reatile-led factions this week rejected the latest offer to have them reconcile before a court ruling which saw the former's case being thrown out.
The offer was made by Justice Zein Kebonang of the Gaborone High Court as he heard the matter in which Butale felt some power-hungry members of his party wanted to 'steal' his presidency.
He now wanted an order that would see five respondents in the matter being jailed. Lawrence Ookeditse, Tshekedi Khama, Barulaganye Letang, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho and Mephato Reatile are the first to fifth respondents in the matter respectively.
The two parties faced off on a chilly Monday evening with more than just the national executive committee (NEC) attending the cases for the first time.
The animosity was at its peak as the warring parties would not exchange pleasantries. To further demonstrate that battle lines were drawn, Butale set just behind his lawyers alone. Behind him, were mostly his supporters. On the other side of the aisle was the Reatile-led faction who sat together with their supporters.
Outside the courtroom, there were a handful of BPF supporters carrying placards condemning Butale and calling on him to leave their party alone.
During the proceedings, Justice Kebonang offered the two parties his chambers for reconciliation purposes. This led to loud murmuring of disapproval by the attendants in court. Butale himself shook his head and laughed. His attorney Lesedi Rammika would then tell the court that efforts to do such had failed on numerous occasions and that there would be no turning back. There is no love lost between the two warring factions of the BPF as the battle for the soul of the BPF rages on.
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, Ookeditse, and the secretary for health, Dr 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 for him to suspend the trio for bringing the party into "disrepute” and "threatening its survival".
Butale’s actions infuriated the disciplinary committee (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.
On July 4, 2023, according to Butale, one Letang, the third respondent herein, issued a letter in which he purports, as secretary of the DC, to inform the party of his (Butale) suspension as per a one-sided deliberation of the DC.
“This is a fake correspondence that has absolutely no weight! it is simply made to attempt to rely on the rule that an administrative act is lawful until declared unlawful. However, I maintain that because it is fake, it is so patently unlawful that it is an exception to that rule and therefore, carries no weight even before the court’s intervention. I say it is fake because by the 10th of July 2023, the vice chairperson alongside the majority of members from the disciplinary committee issued a letter in which they made it clear that they are not authors of the said letter, and further that Letang is not even a member of the DC,” he stated.
Butale holds that regardless of the letter being fake, the other respondents in cahoots with Letang have taken the letter and its contents and have attempted to parade it as authentic and carrying effect against him.
Countering Butale’s submissions, Ookeditse in his replying affidavit states that there was an NEC meeting chaired by Butale on December 8, 2022. He states that at the said meeting, Letang was appointed to the DC alongside one Godknows Robby. In support of his case, Ookeditse filed minutes of the said meeting which showed that indeed he partook in such a meeting.
“I have perused the minutes of the NEC meeting filed by Barulaganye Letang and I confirm that the record presents, with accuracy and precision, the discussion and decisions of the NEC meeting which I was part of. On this basis, it cannot be correct for Butale to claim no knowledge of Letang. It is disingenuous and opportunistic for Butale to posit that he does not know Letang and his official capacity as a member of the DC. Butale has since refuted the said minutes as a true representation of what transpired arguing that fraud and forgery could have been committed as he knew of only a single appointment to the DC. He then filed an interlocutory application calling for oral presentations where individuals would be questioned and cross-examined as there was a dispute of facts. However, representing the defendants, Kago Mokotedi and Joram Matomela opposed the application," said Ookeditse.
It was apparent that the relationship between the parties has broken down irretrievably. Butale wanted a rule nisi issued calling upon the respondents or any party acting through them and/or on their instructions, to show cause why the following orders should not be made final: That the respondents being found contemptuous of the order of Justice Matlhogonolo Phuthego, be ordered to serve 60 days imprisonment to purge their contempt and uphold respect for the court's orders and processes.
Butale went into the latest case with an advantage as he had already won two prior cases and got back his presidential seat. He has a court order which could see at least 10 members of his NEC including former president and party patron Ian Khama jailed.
Whether Butale appeals the judgment or not, the two parties are headed for a split after more than a year of infighting which started with the suspension of Butale over allegations of sexual impropriety.