Dingake facing stiff challenge for BCP women presidency
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday May 6, 2015 16:10
This is one of the congresses, which will have stiff competition amongst the contestants. Already some party members have indicated that they want strong women who are able to mobilise and recruit other women in the party.
According to sources within the party, the outgoing committee is accused of failing to do enough to ensure that women candidates in the past general elections win elections. Though the party had fielded more women for Parliament in the 2014 general elections, none made it.
The battle lines have been drawn, with one of the founding leaders and the current BCP women’s league president Tebogo Dingake facing challenge from Daisy Bernitta Bathusi.
“Bathusi has support from the BCP youth league and the vocal so-called Ditimamolelo under the principal leadership of Phagenyane Phage. Dingake’s team is supported by some youth members who were battling it with the current youth committee and some members within the BCP,” a source said.
Bathusi is the recent parliamentary candidate in the Boteti West constituency and the deputy secretary general of Women’s Academy for Africa, which advocates for women’s participation in political leadership.
She is also the BCP regional chairperson for Boteti, additional member of the women’s league and additional member of the party central committee. Bathusi believes she is the right candidate for the position.
“Challenges facing women’s league nowadays are complex and therefore it needs someone who can redirect and reform the league. It is high time the women’s league voice is heard when it comes to national issues. Our league has not been active like one would expect,” Bathusi said. Her pledge is to mobilise and recruit new members to the BCP. Dingake on the other hand said she was seeking another mandate to lead the league as she still has pending work to conclude.
“The reason why I did not finish the work that the BCP members had asked me to do was because we were facing challenges of general elections. I only served one term in this position. I wanted to mobilise and tour the country to recruit some women to the BCP,” Dingake said.