Make or break retreat for BDP in Palapye
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday February 1, 2019 13:33
Another important agenda item is to convince presidential race hopeful and former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi to withdraw her bid to challenge Masisi as party president.
While the BDP leadership would not be drawn into discussing the issues, Mmegi has in good authority that there is intense behind-the-scenes work to ensure the party returns from Palapye healed from factions and ready for the October general elections.
The other issue on the agenda is to lure some members who had lost in the party primary elections that were held last year and to try talk them into cooperating with the winners.
Another hot potato is the issue of compromise for the July congress in order to try to unite and bring stability in the party. “At the retreat, the members would ask Khama to talk to Venson-Moitoi to consider withdrawing since they believe that she can only listen to him because she was doing it in order to sympathise with him,” the source said.
(In an article carried in another part of this edition, Venson-Moitoi vehemently denied she was a puppet of Khama)
“In a meeting that Masisi held with regional chairpersons last week, they told him that some issues are better discussed at the retreat because it would help some members to have better understanding of what is happening in the party.
In that meeting, Masisi had told the regional chairpersons that he had tried to resolve whatever misunderstanding that might be there between him and Khama, but Khama has refused to talk to him.”
In an previous interview with Mmegi, Khama said Masisi only preferred to send people to him rather than talk to him directly.
However, there are some democrats who believe that the retreat is not the right forum for these nagging squabbles to be discussed nor resolved. “This retreat is waste of money and time I tell you. They are losing the plot and think they can use internal structures to secure victory at the congress.
What is the point of meeting when the national council is coming?” wondered a veteran BDP activist.
“You will know a party is in trouble if a meeting invitation is all legal. Why can’t they say come for a meeting?”
When contacted for comment, BDP’s chairperson of communications and international relations sub-committee Kagelelo Kentse said he could not discuss internal party retreat issues in the media “at this moment”.
“After the retreat there will be a media briefing as usual. On the issue of unity, unity is always in the mind of the President and therefore we cannot confirm nor deny that it will be discussed. But as a party we do need to unify”.
Kentse confirmed that the President and regional chairpersons met last week, but they only talked about the retreat.
He said only one regional chairperson had apologised since he could not make to the meeting, but they did not discuss the Khama/Masisi issue.