Knives out for Morwaeng
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday July 3, 2020 16:02
It is alleged that Morwaeng has not been in sync with most of his councillors as he is reported to be a lone ranger who does not consult them.
Molepolole South constituency has 10 councillors, eight elected and two nominated ones. Of the eight elected councillors, five support Jeffrey Sibisibi while two nominated councillors and three others support Morwaeng.
Reports indicated that the misunderstanding in the constituency arose during the elections of Kweneng District Council (KDC) chairperson. The two councillors who were battling it out are Motlhophi Leo and Sibisibi. In the race, Leo won against the latter.
The dirty campaign for the chairperson is alleged to be the one that caused the rift as some started to accuse Morwaeng of having influenced other councillors to vote for Leo.
According to a source, another name that was mentioned to be rallying behind Sibisibi is that of the party secretary general Mpho Balopi.
“It is clear on the ground that Sibisibi is going to challenge Morwaeng in the coming primary elections. He strongly believes that Morwaeng betrayed him by supporting Leo for KDC chairperson seat. In the ensuing fight, councillors who are on Sibisibi’s side do not comment on WhatsApp groups that are meant to facilitate communication in the constituency between MP and councillors. An outsider cannot easily see the fight, but we know that there is a problem. Again, some of the councillors are complaining that they do not like the fact that the Minister prefers to communicate with them through WhatsApp only when during campaigns he used to call them in person,” a source said.
Another source said the silent fight between Morwaeng and Sibisibi is likely to divide the constituency if it is not attended to as a matter of urgency. The source further said the friction between Morwaeng and Sibisibi teams is starting to play itself out in public and in the recent events it has become more clear and open.
“The other problem is that the area MP does not want to share his agenda with councillors when he visits their ward. This is not right, for a councillor to be a visitor in a meeting and one is expected to give a vote of thanks. This will one day make an MP and councillor to differ in front of people. The reason why a councillor and MP should be open in their communication is to brief each other first before the meeting. Before he makes announcement of his events, he must check with us first if we have events or not. Again, we do not understand the role of his woman in the Whatsapp groups. She used to be a campaign manager but now, what is her role? We cannot express ourselves or say out our displeasure. She is a democrat like others, not a councillors,” the source said.
On the other hand, Leo argued that Morwaeng treats councillors equally and with all his events, he communicates them through the Whatsapp group, which is meant for him and councillors.
“I do not think he is sidelining anyone. The rumours that some people are not happy are ther,e but no one has lodged any complaint to express any displeasure. Honestly, Morwaeng has not helped me during KDC chairperson seat campaign,” Leo said.
However Sibisibi elected to be wryly diplomatic.
“I do not have any faction. Me and Morwaeng are colleagues, not friends. I know people want me to contest and I have told them that we have an MP and I have pledged to support him. It is not a secret I have a relationship with Balopi and I work with him well. I knew that he could not undermine President and Vice President and if he is assigned to do something, he will do the work without looking back. I think my relationship with my MP is just fine”.
For his part Morwaeng said to the best of his knowledge, he has a good relationship with all of his councillors.
“The reason why I created the WhatsApp group for me and my councillors was to be able to inform them about my visits in the constituency or their wards. Of course, I do not call them but I prefer this model of communication because we do not have an office yet. The reason why our constituency delayed in having an office was because we wanted a bigger office. I will be able to write them letters through my secretary whenever I have visits in the area. They have not expressed any displeasure about the way I do things. I am not aware of any factions or misunderstanding in the area,” he said.
On the issue lobbying for Leo to be a chairperson, Morwaeng said he has been clear that he would not support anyone or take sides because he was against the idea of his councillors contesting for the same position.
“I tried to talk to them so that they could at least compromise. I even warned my councillors to desist from attacking each other during campaigns so that they could keep on working together,” he said.