Billy rubbishes bad blood allegation
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Friday December 13, 2019 14:59
In doing so, Kwambala, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Botswana, risked curtailing his stellar political career because he defied the BDP caucus.
Recently, the BDP caucus gave the immediate past deputy mayor of Francistown; Godisang Radisigo the green light to stand for the position of the city mayor against the opposition after nine people voted for him during party’s caucus. In another development, Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development, Billy has vehemently denied bad blood claims. When asked to give his side of the story, Billy rubbished allegations of bad blood between him and Kwambala as “mendacious propaganda”.
He said: “I have nothing to do with influencing how the leadership of the Francistown City Council is voted. People who were voted to lead the Francistown municipality were voted based on their capabilities. I also can’t stop coming to Francistown. I came to Francistown because I was attending a funeral at Minestone, which had nothing to with influencing how people should vote at the BDP caucus. Also, you should remember that I am an MP in Francistown so even if I came here from Gaborone, I would be here to tell my constituents about what is happening in Parliament”.
“I am also a democrat who embraces competition. The BDP constitution encourages any democrat who wants to enter primary elections that opportunity. Who am I to disregard the BDP constitution?” Billy added.
Radisigo’s opponent at the BDP caucus was none other than Kwambala who was voted by seven people. On Wednesday, Radisigo prevailed against Kwambala again at the Francistown City Council (FCC) chambers during the election for the mayor. He won by a razor-thin margin of one vote after garnering 12 votes against Kwambala’s 11. One vote was spoiled.
BDP has 16 councillors in Francistown (inclusive of nominated councillors) while the opposition; UDC and AP have seven councillors (inclusive of one nominated councillor).
Be that as it may, Kwambala may have hoisted his own petard after he accepted nomination from members of the opposition bloc.
Sources close to Kwambala say that he wanted to use the position of the mayor for political mileage and influence since he has his eye on Parliament.
A source close to Kwambala said: “Kwambala wants to be the MP for Francistown East in 2024. He thought that holding the position of mayor was going to give him more leverage to challenge the incumbent MP during the BDP primary elections. That is why Billy was busy mobilising BDP councillors in Francistown over the past weekend not to vote for Kwambala because he saw him as a future potential threat”.
When Kwambala first entered the political scene before the 2014 general elections, he was fighting in the corner of the current Speaker of the National Assembly, Phandu Skelemani, who by then was the MP for Francistown East.
However, Billy surprised many in political circles after he defeated Skelemani who was considered by some then as an invincible politician in Francistown East because of his former position as the Attorney General.
Before Billy defeated Skelemani, he was at one point the mayor of Francistown-a position that some believe gave him the wherewithal over Skelemani-a strategy that sources close to Kwambala said he also wanted to use against Billy. Asked if he had ambitions of challenging Billy and ascending to parley, Kwambala said: “Every politician desires to grow politically. Serious and reasonable politicians don’t want to stay in the same position forever”.
Quizzed of any bad blood between him and Billy, Kwambala said he just heard that from the grapevine.