Balopi, Jagdish dispatched to feuding Kweneng
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday November 6, 2020 15:40
BDP Secretary General, Mpho Balopi and Central Committee member, Jagdish Shah form part of the delegation, but already the regional committee there is resisting the secretary general’s presence in the delegation.
The region and the branch committee are feuding over the upcoming party elective congress penciled for next year. The two structures are also at loggerheads over the relationship between the area MP, Tumiso Rakgare and his councillors.
This week, highly placed sources told Mmegi the regional committee had informed BDP Executive Secretary, Reobonye Merafhe, that Balopi cannot be part of the delegation as it had already written to the Central Committee complaining about his (Balopi’s) alleged interference in the constituency.
“The meeting was supposed to be held on Wednesday but it was postponed and we are shocked because it was said this was because Balopi was not around,” an authoritative source said.
“We cannot attend a meeting that is called by Balopi when we had complained about him.
“The reason some members are misbehaving in the area and failing to cooperate with the area Member of Parliament, Rakgare, is because of that.
“If the branch and region do not have power to call members or listen to their queries then we are going to have a problem to ensure that structures are well run in the area.
“As the region we only wanted to know what is going because the branch has written to us and now we find ourselves in the middle of issues.”
Mmegi has learnt that the party office had wanted the meeting to be held on Thursday since Balopi would be around but the regional committee members pointed out that they would not be available.
Other sources in the matter, however, said the region’s resistance towards Balopi was because “they are not doing certain things right”.
“This (meeting) is the only time that our disputes with the area MP, as councillors and the branch committee, could be addressed and if not then there will be no peace in Mogoditshane. “The reason the region is in the middle of these issues is because it took sides in the matter from the start,” the source said.
Last week, Tsholetsa House stopped a meeting which was held by the Kweneng East region whose sole aim was to suspend the branch committee chairperson, Percy Tshuba. This was after Tshuba wrote a letter to the party asking for its intervention and stating that the region and area MP were destabilising the constituency.
Some members had also written to the party complaining that the MP has favourites whom he wants to work with in the area. These ‘favourites’ are alleged to be ‘sabotaging’ others especially some councillors.
The region secretary Obakeng Kgabo refused to comment on the matter, while efforts to contact Balopi were not successful by Press time.