No lobby list for Ntuane
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday June 23, 2015 15:35
Party activist and nominated councillor Macdonald Peloetletse told the regional campaign team meeting on Saturday that while they lobby support for Ntuane, they do not want to divide the electorate by aligning to any chairmanship candidate.
“Ntuane is ready and prepared to work with any chairman hence we have members who support different chairmanship candidates,” he said. He added that the Saturday meeting was purely to lobby support for Ntuane’s campaign and said their candidate could bring a solution to the problems that the party is currently embroiled in.
“Our party is always under attack in the media but nobody comes out to defend it. We need a leader who can stand for the party. We are at a point where we are never assured of a win in any by-election,” he added. The party has already lost four by-elections so far despite the fact that it once won all the 14 by-elections.
He added that life under the current ruling party is not enjoyable as members are always summoned by the executive committee to account for petty issues. “We need freedom of expression without any intimidation. The party must seriously introspect on its problems and that of the country at large rather than dwelling on petty issues,” he said.
Peloetletse said once in office Ntuane would be able to defend the party, as he would have laid a roadmap to preserve the dignity of the party. He added that the opposition identifies more with the youth nowadays hence the party needs somebody as youthful as Ntuane.
For his part Ntuane said he and his campaign team had raised concerns over the state of the ruling party. “It is for the first time that the party registered such a drop in perfomance and this calls for serious introspection,” he added.
He also said the party may have sound structures in place but governance issues are also critical to address. He also expressed the need for central committee candidates to be accorded a platform to campaign in front of the electorates so that voting can be done on merit not friendships.
Former Selebi-Phikwe West MP Kavis Kario said the party couldn’t afford to be in denial of the real situation on the ground. He added that BDP is on the verge of losing the general elections to the opposition unless it does something fundamental. “Let us be able to hold our leadership accountable. Let us change and with this I believe the party can easily come back,” he said.
He expressed the need to have a common agenda to challenge the leadership to improve most of the things. Among the notables at the meeting was former BDP executive secretary Thabo Masalila.