BDP diehards snub Moswaane sanctioned conference
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday February 7, 2017 15:42
The conference was called by the Francistown West branch secretary, Lizah Maguswi who last week was accused of serving Moswaane’s agenda of sidelining his (Moswaane) potential primary elections opponents.
Campaigns for the BDP primaries, which are slated for next year have attracted infighting among potential candidates in recent months.
The majority of those who allegedly missed the meeting are those affiliated to Tebogo Toteng who is poised to challenge Moswaane at the BDP primaries. Toteng’s group also feels that the meeting was called at short notice.
The agenda of the meeting was to legitimise the Francistown West branch youth wing committee and voting of the branch’s women’s wing committee.
The likes of Tatitown councillor Gaethuse Ramolotsana and BDP activist Otto Masogo lead Toteng’s group. Councillor Cornelius Gopolang also reportedly snubbed the meeting but is unclear if he is affiliated to Toteng or not.
“I only received the invitation for the meeting at short notice. By then I was already on my way to a funeral and could not change my plans.
Of course my absence raises impressions that I might have snubbed the meeting deliberately because there is currently lack of stability in the constituency,” Ramolotsana said.
Masogo also said he could not attend the meeting because he was not invited on time. “I only heard about the meeting on Friday. In addition, I felt that if I appear at the meeting I will be legitimising some of the things I believe some members in the constituency have not done right,” he said.
Toteng said he was not in a position to comment. Gopolang said at the time of the conference, he was outside the country but could have been in attendance had he been invited on time.
In addition, the Toteng-led group reportedly distanced itself from the conference because they hold the view that the current Francistown West youth wing branch committee is illegitimate after the collapse of the initially elected one. The group recently wrote a petition to the party executive questioning the legitimacy of the branch’s youth committee.
The group argues that the constitution provides that where more than two thirds of the committee becomes inactive there must be re-election.
According to Toteng’s lobby group, people have been handpicked by Moswaane and his operatives a feat that undermines the constitution of the party. The petitioners also complained about the effectiveness of the Francistown West branch led by Maguswi.
“The party structures in Francistown West are dysfunctional and in a state of disrepair.
This is because the MP has domesticated the party, restricted party functionaries to friends, family and cronies who are flagrantly violating the constitution of the party willy-nilly.
The current dysfunctional committee has left very little enthusiasm in our party,” reads part of the petition sent to the BDP executive last week.
Maguswi recently said she does not field questions from the media. Moswaane reacted angrily when contacted for comment.
“I do not like responding to stupid things. I do not want to deal with frustrated people. I do not directly deal with invitations but from what I know the letters are dated January 22 and were given to party members well on time,” he said.