Nkate leads new BDP faction
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday April 23, 2021 17:53
Exactly three years under President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s leadership, the country’s longest reigning political party is showing new and viciously widening cracks.
Tsosolosa Mokgatlho is the new movement within the BDP led by some party veterans who believe Masisi is steering the party into the wilderness. According to highly placed sources inside Tsosolosa Mokgatlho, the members have already formed a committee and resolved to meet the party leadership for some strategic interventions aimed at reviving the party.
One of the ringleaders of Tsosolosa Mokgatlho is former Cabinet Minister, secretary general and Ambassador Jacob Nkate. Nkate, who is no stranger to BDP factional fights, confirmed that there was a new committee aimed at helping the BDP. He however declined to comment further saying he did not have the powers to talk about BDP issues.
Other notable names that have been mentioned as sympathisers to the new faction are Nonofo Molefhi and Kentse Rammidi. Mmegi could not reach Rammidi and Molefhi for comment. The ‘Cava’ faction that helped Masisi purge the former party president Ian Khama’s loyalists within the party has been destabilised. Some of Cava’s hard-working lieutenants have been rewarded with government jobs while others are quietly enjoying lucrative tenders.
Meanwhile, there are other disgruntled Cava members who feel betrayed by Masisi and have followed Khama to the Botswana Patriot Front. Others are now regrouping with the veterans at Tsosolosa Mokgatlho.
According to Tsosolosa Mokgatlho members, BDP structures have collapsed and nothing is being done to rebuild them. These concerned Domkrag members are painting a picture of a party that is hemorrhaging members at a rate that will not retain state power.
“The BDP is losing the loyal members who know the party’s ideology and these are key people who stand for the party whether good or bad.
If the leadership does not take the issue seriously, then we are not going to have people who can campaign for it. We cannot ignore the fact that the opposition parties are weakening us day and night by recruiting our members. Again people are slowly losing confidence in us. Therefore, it is important for us to come up with ways to make the party likeable,” the source said. Another source said the BDP now looks disorganised as the members are not defending it since they do not know what is happening in the party.
The concerned members say the morale for some BDP members is down. This is because the old members believe the party leadership is sidelining them by preferring the new ones who do not even campaign for the party.
“Some members were not happy on how the nominated councillors were chosen when they had been working for BDP during 2019 general elections. The members want the party to have a proper succession plan as it had been. Another thing the members are complaining of is that the new members who come from other parties are failing to protect the name of the party by the way they behave or respond to issues,” the source said.
The concerned members are also worried by the rise of corruption in the country. They also believe this tarnishes the party image as some members are always mentioned in corruption cases.
In addition, the members believe that it is early for the party to give up on the control of the central part of the country since the southern part cannot be relied on, in the general elections.
“We are slowly losing the public service which sympathised with us in 2019 and the hatred people had on former president Ian Khama is no longer there. It is possible for people and civil servants to vote for opposition parties if we are not careful,” the source said.