Pilane faces seven-day ultimatum
Staff Writer | Friday September 21, 2018 14:35
The other UDC affiliates - the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana People’s Party (BPP) - held a meeting on Tuesday with the BMD.
According to sources Pilane, who stormed out of the meeting attended by other UDC leaders, was told he is a liability to the coalition and always causes trouble. The heated meeting, which started at 3pm, ended around 9pm. Even at break time, tension could be sensed from different party members and the UDC national executive committee members. Members were sitting along party lines.
“The UDC leadership feels that Pilane should withdraw his candidacy (for Gaborone North constituency) because the voters cannot vote for him. People do not trust him as the BMD leader and other parties’ members have vowed that they would not vote if he contested.
“UDC cannot afford to lose that constituency because of one person. The leadership accuses Pilane of attacking UDC and also sharing internal party issues on social media and radio when in fact he refuses to attend leadership meetings when called to,” a source said. These, according to another source, are the issues that made BMD president furious to a point of storming out of the meeting, which was held at Oasis Motel.
Another source said the BMD as the party was also given seven days to give reasons why the party should not be suspended. According to the source, the BMD is accused of failing to cooperate with other UDC affiliates or attend internal meetings that are called by all affiliate secretaries. During the parties’ different conferences, the regions gave a report that the reason why ward allocations are not yet finished is because BMD members are not attending meetings.
They also accused it of recruiting candidates from other parties, especially the ruling party members, so that they contest on their allocated wards or constituencies. This according to a source does not sit well with the affiliated parties. The UDC has been divided because of ward and constituency allocations. Another issue was the constitution as some were challenging the implemented one.
After the Oasis meeting, the UDC president Duma Boko said they would only talk to the media about BMD issues on Wednesday next week. “I am the only one who is going to talk about this matter. Can we be given space to finish our issues?” he said. After the meeting, the UDC NEC members were sworn to secrecy not to share what transpired at the meeting with anybody, especially the media. It is alleged the BMD leadership met on Wednesday afternoon to strategise on the way forward.