BDP mekoko head to UDC
Bonte Seepi | Thursday December 10, 2015 15:01
They have sought membership to the UDC member party, the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD).
The three are councillor for Lecheng/Malaka, Charles Mabjeng, former Seolwane councillor, Montshisi Thabeng and former vice chairperson of Palapye Administrative Authority, Setlhabelo Modukanele who stood independently for a parliamentary seat and lost.
The three are all former BDP members who lost during the party’s hotly contested primary elections ahead of the 2014 general election. News reaching Mmegi indicates that the campaign teams and candidates as well as their followers held a meeting on Sunday night at Goo-Sekgweng to discuss their political future, where it was decided to join the BMD. “We met on Sunday and this was the second time we held such a meeting. The resolutions were the same, that we should quit BDP and join opposition,” Thabeng said in an interview.
He said the trio was no longer interested in Domkrag because the party initially made it clear that independent candidates were not welcome in the party. The BDP recently made a U-turn on its policy and is now accepting former members who quit to become independent candidates.
“No one knows why they changed their minds. So we are suspicious that their decision to welcome mekoko back is out of desperation. Therefore we are not interested,” he said. Mabjeng, who won the 2014 seat as an independent councillor for the second time, said his second tenure in the local authority, outside the BDP had emboldened him.
“The BDP failed me twice. Why should I give them a third chance? That is why I have decided to join BMD.
“BDP primary elections are never transparent and that will never change. That is why I do not want to rejoin the party.
“After the primary elections, we raised complaints but no one listened to us. That showed that we were no longer needed in the party,” he said. Another independent former member, Patson Maele, who is also former BDP Gootau branch chairperson, also told Mmegi that he is in the process of joining the UDC.
Maele said there was no use going back to the BDP because they were not whole-heartedly welcome. “The current area Member of Parliament never approached us to inform us about the party’s decision of welcoming mekoko back, but he was supposed to be the first person to meet us. “So we rally behind our councillor and parliamentary candidate on the decision of joining the BMD,” said Maele.The former BDP members said while they had not written to the UDC, they expect to have joined the opposition bloc fully by next year. Responding to the developments, area MP, Prince Maele labelled the speakers “attention seekers, cry-babies, bad losers and mere opportunists”.
“These guys are not politicians. They never lived the ideals of the BDP and it is public knowledge. They were a great source of disunity in our constituency and ever since they left, the party in our constituency has been the most stable and united with action packed party activities envied by many. “They have done much damage to the BDP from within and the fact that they are leaving is not a surprise to us. We saw it coming. It is good that they are presenting an opportunity for us to face them head on.
“We have been restraining ourselves owing to their pretence that they are BDP. We are going to teach them a lesson never to be forgotten,” he said. Maele said the party was not interested in wooing the former members back. “There is no way I could convince them to come back because they were never true democrats in the first place. We are not desperate and we have committed and loyal members in the constituency who are burning with desire to take the party to greater heights.”