Defectors did not serve the BDP officially - Medupi
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday June 21, 2019 12:33
The region is made up of Francistown East, West and South. It also encompasses Tati East, West constituencies and Tonota constituency.
Speaking to Mmegi following the defection of James Kgalajwe and councillor Godfrey Kaelo who recently joined the new party on the block, Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), Medupi said his office has not received Kgalajwe and Kaelo’s official resignation letters from the BDP.
“Although Kgalajwe has informed me that he has defected from the BDP to the BPF, I have not seen his official resignation letter at the party office but I know that he has left the BDP. As for Kaelo, I only learnt of his defection from the party through a resignation letter purporting to be his that is circulating on social media. I don’t know if there are other BDP supporters who have followed the BPF because the party office has not received any official correspondence from anyone to that effect,” said Medupe.
He explained that although the BDP expected anyone who terminates his/her membership from the party to officially inform the organisation in writing, it is not a given that those who defect would always furnish the party with official resignation letters because they may find no need to do so. According to Medupe, the defectors lost during the BDP’s last primary elections and therefore they may have discovered that they stand better chances to contest for political office again if they defect to the BPF.
The BDP is currently rocked by defections from its ranks to the BPF-the latest being 10 councillors in the Central District this week. Most of the people who are defecting to the BPF lost the BDP primary elections.
Some analysts and members of the public have described them as mere opportunists who are bitter because they lost during the BDP’s primary elections.
The analysts further say the defectors want to benefit from the fallout between President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his predecessor, Ian Khama.
The BDP has never known peace since the war of attrition between Masisi and Khama. Meanwhile, the BPF is also benefiting from the defections of some Umbrella for Democratic (UDC) cadres in the Francistown West constituency.
Just like their BDP counterparts, most of them are from the UDC’s contracting party, Botswana Congress Party (BCP), who lost primary elections.