Butale Abandons Motswaledi Motion
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday February 23, 2015 14:40
When he first presented the motion in Parliament two Fridays ago, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) legislator said the country needed to recognise and honour Motswaledi for his immense contribution in music and politics.
MP Butale told The Monitor that BDP parliamentary caucus has advised him the motion was unnecessary.
“They told me that a person could be honoured without a motion. There was no way I could have continued with the motion if I had no support from my party members. The thing is, I need their numbers for my motion to pass,” Butale said.
He said the caucus had told him that they have not planned to honour politicians.
While there was obvious unhappiness from the ruling party leadership over the motion that had it passed, would have honoured President Ian Khama’s nemesis, Butale said he did not regret bringing the motion in Parliament, and if he had the supporting numbers, he would not have withdrawn it.
Before leaving the BDP and leading a breakaway faction to form the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) in 2009, Motswaledi was a prominent and rising member of the party. Just months after being elected to the powerful post of secretary general, and winning the primaries to contest Gaborone Central constituency, Khama slapped him with an unprecedented five-year suspension. He then did the unthinkable, sued Khama in his capacity as BDP president. He lost because constitutionally because the incumbent President of the land cannot be sued.
Motswaledi’s popularity soared when the BMD under his leadership joined forces with the Botswana National Front and Botswana Peoples Party to form and contest the 2014 general elections under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). Two months before the elections, Motswaledi perished in a road mishap. His sudden demise seemed to propel his new movement, as the UDC won 17 out of 57 parliamentary seats, as the BDP’s popular vote dropped to 46.7%.