Ousted Bontshetse denies move to BCP
Bonte Seepi | Thursday October 2, 2014 09:00
In an interview with Mmegi, Bontshetse rubbished the rumours saying that he was still a Botswana National Front (BNF) member and has not thought of moving to any other political party. He said he was still considering options.
“Those rumours are not true, I have never said I am moving to BCP. I am still thinking about it and have not yet considered any movement to any other party. Mind you, I have not lost my case, the issue was that my case could not be considered urgent. So my case can still be heard again in court,” said Bontshetse.
Meanwhile, Bontshetse said he did not want to appeal the case nor let it be heard in court again because he regarded that as a waste of money and time.
The rumours, which are spread in social networks, came after Bontshetse lost his case to the BNF – after he took the party to court challenging its decision to recall him.
The BNF, which is in a coalition with the Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), suspended Bontshetse for refusing to give way to the former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Pono Moatlhodi.
Moatlhodi defected from the ruling Botswana Democratic party (BDP) early this year after losing the Tonota constituency primary elections to Thapelo Olopeng.
Justice Zibane Makhwade, who was hearing Bontshetse’s case, dismissed his urgent application with costs on the grounds that he failed to act on time.
Makhwade said that the BNF member delayed challenging his dismissal through the party structures and the courts, although he was fully aware that the matter needed to be resolved urgently.
Meanwhile, the BCP national campaign manager, Thapelo Ndlovu, was not in a position to confirm whether or not his party had registered Maokaneng as its member.
“I cannot rubbish the rumours nor confirm them because usually as the campaign team we leave the recruitment of new members to the local structures.
So we have not yet received any official message about such an issue from the local structures,” he said.