BDP to recall Katse
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday May 14, 2014 15:33
In a letter dated May 12, 2014, from the BDP secretary general, Mpho Balopi, Katse and four others have been given until May 19 to show cause why action should not be taken against them. Katse, who defeated the former Botswana National Front vice president and MP, assistant minister Olebile Gaborone in the December primaries, has been instructed to write to the central committee and state why he should not be recalled as the party parliamentary candidate. His co-accused are branch secretary Collen Mochotlhi, councillor Tidimalo Matlhotse, Amantle Matlapeng and council candidate Stella Matlapeng.
Balopi wrote that the central committee “has received a report by the special investigating team (the Investigations Committee) appointed by the central committee to investigate certain allegations of gross misconduct and breach of the party’s constitution and primary elections’ code of conduct by yourself and others.” The letter says the investigation committee “found that Katse, and the aforementioned were guilty of committing various acts aimed at compromising the conduct of the 2013 primary elections in Tlokweng constituency”.
The party investigations found that the five embarked on a deliberate and concerted plan to manipulate the primary elections’ process to their advantage.
The letter said Katse and his team were guilty of unlawfully tampering with the party’s official voters’ roll by removing approximately 400 names of suspected supporters of Gaborone. It is also alleged that the conspirators were involved in the trafficking of a large number of voters from Limkokwing University into the constituency in order to prop-up their support base to the detriment of other contestants.
“Given the serious nature of the findings by the investigations committee contained in the report, they are now referring the report to the Party’s Disciplinary Committee for appropriate action. In addition to disciplinary action, we shall refer the matter to Botswana Police to investigate possible criminal offences that they may have committed as identified in the report,” writes Balopi.