Knives out for Moswaane supporters

Chakalisa Dube | Friday July 31, 2020 14:42

 

Knives out for Moswaane supporters

The three are followers of suspended ruling party Member of Parliament (MP) Ignatius Moswaane. The disciplinary action comes after BDP activist, Otto Masogo wrote a letter to the ruling party demanding that action be taken against the trio for assaulting him nearly five years ago.

Until recently, political gatherings were not allowed as a strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19. Mmegi has learnt that now that political meetings are allowed, dealing with the case involving the trio is one of the priorities for the party. 

The trio assaulted Masogo during the Francistown regional congress in 2016. The BDP moved swiftly and suspended them from all party activities pending the finalisation of the matter before court. The Francistown magistrate found them guilty in February this year. The three were each sentenced to two years in jail for assaulting. The sentence was wholly suspended.

Now that the court case is over Masogo is pushing for an internal (BDP) disciplinary process to be instituted against the trio. Masogo confirmed that he recently wrote a letter and submitted supporting documents to the BDP secretariat demanding that action be taken against the trio.

The ruling party spokesperson,  Kagelelo Banks Kentse also confirmed that the party has received the aforementioned correspondence from Masogo.

“The party is aware of Masogo’s matter. His letter and supporting documents have since been passed to the disciplinary committee. I anticipate that the committee will deal with the letter soon because the government now allows the holding of political activities in line with COVID-19 regulations,” Kentse said.  

There are reports that Masogo and other BDP activists in the Francistown region are pushing for the expulsion of the trio from the party. Masogo has on several occasions vowed that he will not rest until the party takes action against the trio. It is still unclear as to how the BDP will deal with Mosarwaane since he is now classified as a civil servant and is barred from political activism.

On the other hand the planned disciplinary hearing might spell disaster for Mosarwaane. His hearing coincides with a time in which the BDP intends to table (before parliament) a bill that prevents floor crossing of councillors and MPs’.

If theBill is passed into law by parliament and the party sacks him after a hearing as speculated, his role as a councillor might come to an end. This might ultimately mean that the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development will have to nominate a new councillor. 

Late last year, Moswaane attracted stern criticism from BDP diehards in the Francistown region for nominating Moses as councillor and hiring Mosarwane as his administration officer while they were on an indefinite suspension from the party.

There is a groundswell of opinion within the BDP that not taking stern action against the trio might encourage anarchy within the party because other members would commit similar offences in future knowing very well that they would be treated with kid gloves.