AP cracks the whip
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Sunday March 17, 2024 21:00
The branch committee was given a suspension letter on Sunday after the CC made a decision on Saturday and Koontse was relieved from his duty with immediate effect pending investigation.
According to the AP constitution, the branch committee is supposed to consist of eight members but the Molepolole South constituency had only seven members. The AP CC met and made a decision on Saturday during their normal meetings. This comes shortly after the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) candidate Shima Monageng wrote a complaint letter against the branch committee accusing it of de-campaigning him.
The AP is an affiliate of the UDC and after it was allocated the constituency, Monageng emerged as the candidate. Monageng recently wrote to the CC complaining that the branch committee is secretly conniving with the Botswana National Front (BNF) member, Dr Tlamelo Mmatli. The latter feels that the AP should not have been given the constituency. He felt that instead of Monageng, he is the best-suited candidate to represent the UDC in the upcoming general elections.
Monageng complained that the committee made it clear that they would not endorse him as a candidate for the UDC. According to a letter dated March 9, 2024, written to Koontse by the party secretary-general, Phenyo Butale, it reads: “The Central Committee of the AP, being the highest decision-making body in between congresses, at its meeting held March 9, 2024, resolved to suspend the Molepolole South branch pending intervention and/or investigation by a selected task force assigned to deal with this matter. The special task force will visit the branch on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 to further engage on this matter.”
Furthermore, the letter says during the suspension, the region is tasked to attend to day-to-day matters in the constituency. Moreover, Koontse was tasked to inform the branch of the decision and of the visit by the special CC task force on Wednesday. When contacted for a comment, Phenyo said the issue was an internal matter and he could not comment on. Mmatli and Monageng fought on opposing sides in 2019, but the AP’s decision to join the opposition coalition last year changed everything leaving the constituency in the AP’s hands.
Both warring parties lost to incumbent area legislator, Kabo Morwaeng, of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) who won convincingly by garnering 10,228 votes in 2019. Mmatli, who then represented the UDC, came second with 2,733 votes while Monageng managed only 1,471 votes.
It has since become apparent that Mmatli is complaining about Monageng whom he accuses of having abandoned the constituency following their losses in the 2019 General Election. Recently, Mmatli said Monageng had not been active in the area until last year when he heard that the AP and UDC would be cooperating. “I have been managing this constituency on behalf of the UDC even after I lost to the ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). I did not leave the area, instead, I ensured that the membership grew. Of course, the AP was not part of the UDC but some of its members in the area have been working collectively with us. Monageng was nowhere to be found,” Mmatli told Mmegi in a previous interview.
“Some people are just playing politics, at the wrong time when UDC is supposed to be winning government. Even if the BDP wins, we aim to increase the number of Members of Parliament (MPs), not a scenario where the BDP has no competition in Parliament. We need a strong opposition. Look at the Molepolole council, we do not have even one opposition councillor. That is completely wrong,” Monageng indicated before.
Monageng admitted that the UDC is divided in his constituency and blamed Mmatli for the division. The UDC candidate said he wonders why Mmatli is still amused by this issue when the presidents of different parties addressed it and the AP won.