Khama purges Motswaledi

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday August 19, 2009 00:00

 

Motswaledi has been replaced with Wynter Mmolotsi - until now the deputy secretary general - as secretary general, according to information reaching Mmegi.

Both Motswaledi and Mmolotsi are of the Barata-Phathi faction of the BDP that thumped their Khama-led rivals in the Central Committee lections in Kanye last month.

This suspension immediately means Motswaledi is no longer the parliamentary candidate of the BDP for Gaborone Central.

Invoking powers vested in him by Clause 34.1.5 of the constitution of the party, BDP President Ian Khama suspended Motswaledi from the party for 60 days.

Clause 34.1.5 empowers the party president to 'suspend any member of the party for up to 60 days on the grounds of such member's behaviour pending action by the Disciplinary Committee'.

'I can only confirm that Motswaledi has been served with a letter of suspension,' the party's executive secretary, Comma Serema said curtly when contacted.

Motswaledi confirmed his receipt of the letter that also gives him 14 days to appear before the party's disciplinary committee. He also confirmed that he has been suspended as the parliamentary candidate for Gaborone Central.

Meanwhile, Mmolotsi has denied that he has been appointed to fill Motswaledi's position: 'It is not true,' he told Mmegi last night. 'According to the BDP constitution, if the Secretary General is not in office, his functions are performed by his deputy. It follows then that in this case, I should perform them.'

A Central Committee source says there are plans to seek legal redress to Motswaledi's suspension and other outstanding issues between Khama's faction and Barata-Phathi, who swept the popular vote to the Central Committee at the BDP congress last month.

As the internecine BDP drama unfolds, former presidents Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae are reportedly to meet with Khama to discuss developmental issues and hopefully to appeal to him to rescind Motswaledi's suspension.

Motswaledi's suspension follows his criticism of law firm Collins and Newman for defending Khama's appointment of additional members to the Central Committee and other party structures without consulting the newly elected Central Committee whose members are of the Barata-Phathi faction en bloc.

Collins and Newman, one of the oldest law firms in the country that goes back to colonial times, acts as legal advisors to the BDP and is known to be close to the Khama family.

In an outburst, Motswaledi questioned the law firm's motives for its highly publicised statement supporting Khama's actions.

The Central Committee sought legal opinion from advocate Peter Collins, law firm Collins Newman and Company and advocate Sidney Pilane. The three were tasked with scrutinising and advising on the powers of the party president in relation to the Central Committee.

They were also to find whether Khama's unilateral decisions to appoint sub-committees and extend Serema's contract were within the law. Speculation is rife that Motswaledi's deputy Wynter Mmolotsi and additional members Kabo Morwaeng and Leach Tlhomelang are also targets of Khama's punitive suspensions. However, Morwaeng says he is not aware of any such impending action. Efforts to reach Mmolotsi and Tlhomelang proved futile.