BPF snatches another councillor from BDP
Koketso Kgoboge | Tuesday September 8, 2020 11:04
Daniel Mogale, a councillor for Serorome East in Palapye, became the latest party member to cross the floor from the BDP to the BPF in the Central District Council.
He delivered a letter of his resignation from the BDP to the party’s secretary general yesterday morning. The civic leader said amongst his many reasons for quitting was the administration of the ruling party.
'It's about who knows who, or who is close to the party leadership. For some of us that have no close relations to party leaders, nothing happens in our wards, even if we can speak [out],' he said.
He added that most of the constituents that voted for him were the BPF members and the rest that were with the BDP before the elections have also quit the ruling party.
'I am following my team of constituents that have joined the BPF. It could have happened before the general elections. It is only that when the BPF was formed it was not opportune because of the time factor.'
Mogale said it became even more difficult to advance his plea for his constituents during the coronavirus (COVID-19) period. 'This pandemic exposed how ill the people at BDP work. Some constituencies benefited while we struggled. Our usual initiatives for the people that we have promised to maintain have also disappeared,' he said.
The BDP Palapye branch chairperson Gaesi Morake said he saw the letter on social media yet his branch was only copied to. He said as far as he was concerned, there was no problem of defections from their Palapye Administration Authority (PAA) quarters.
'I have not seen any problem with my councillors. I would not wish to comment on issues on social media. They are not a concern at the moment,' he said briefly.
Speculation amongst the PAA councillors is that three more from the authority quarters were expected to follow suit this week.
Recently, another councillor for Motshegaletau Ward in the Serowe South constituency, Malau Gabaipone also left the ruling party.
BPF spokesperson Justice Motlhabane said they were receiving an overwhelming number of calls from both the north and the south of political leaders interested in joining their movement.
“We started off with no councillor in the Palapye Administrative Authority, now we have two, and we are growing. The ground is shifting and people have realised that the ruling party is no longer people-centric, they are moving with us,” he said.
Botswana Congress Party (BCP) councillor for Khurumela ward in Palapye also recently defected to the BPF.