Mamela, Mmolotsi smoke peace pipe
Chakalisa Dube | Wednesday March 23, 2016 14:26
The men held the reported informal meeting at a Botswana Congress Party (BCP) rally in Palapye. The rivalry between Mmolotsi of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Mamela of the BCP is legendary.
The two men have never shied away from throwing tough words at each other during rallies and insiders from both camps say the rivalry goes beyond freedom square politics.
It is believed their rivalry originates from the initial opposition unity talks, which failed in 2011. Mamela was a strong critic of the Umbrella movement.
Mmolotsi won the Francistown South parliamentary seat at the 2014 general elections against Mamela and Francistown mayor, Sylvia Muzila.
Both men also addressed the weekend rally in Palapye.
Observers see the alleged informal reconciliation meeting as a step in the right direction as the two parties prepare to engage in unity talks, especially since Mamela is perceived to be against the umbrella project.
“They embraced each other at the rally. On top of the agenda was how the two men and their parties could work together in the looming Phillip Matante East by-election and beyond,” said one source close to the latest developments.
“In fact, Mmolotsi was supposed to address BCP members on Monday this week about the preparations for the by-election. He did not go because of his commitments in Parliament and instead sent representatives from his party.” Mamela was part of the Monday meeting where he reportedly encouraged members to vigorously campaign for the ward.
Yesterday Mamela confirmed the informal weekend meeting with Mmolotsi, but said that reconciliation was not on the agenda.
“The meeting was merely to set up a meeting to discuss the by-election at Phillip Matante East.
“As far as I know, I am not a rival to Mmolotsi. We do have differences, but we have to put them aside and act in the best interest of our parties. We (BCP and UDC) have a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to work with each other during the by-election and we have to respect that,” he said.
For his part, Mmolotsi yesterday confirmed that he had met Mamela, but equally downplayed perceptions that they are political rivals. “I met Mamela so that we facilitate a meeting for our branch committees to discuss the looming by-election in the constituency. The meeting took place on Monday.
“The weekend meeting in Palapye was not a reconciliation meeting because I am not a rival to Mamela as per perception. We may have political differences, but it does not mean that we are rivals. Mamela is also an uncle to my wife and we do a lot of things outside politics together,” he said.