Pilane Bails Out Thutlwe
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday July 9, 2018 18:00
Pilane has been known as a financially muscular man, who has been helping a lot of BMD members with money and other things, especially for the benefit of their party. On Saturday, secretary general of the BMD Youth League, Leak Seboko together with Nakedi and another member were on radio stating that they wanted Pilane to step aside as president of the party as he was misruling.
This came a few days after a leaked conversation of UDC leadership WhatsApp group showed that there was a rift between Pilane and Dumelang Saleshando of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). The trio spoke of how Pilane financially helped most BMD members including them.
Late last week, in a leaked BMD WhatsApp group message, Pilane vowed to stop helping BMD members, stating that he always gets into trouble after helping them. In another leaked message, Pilane accuses Nakedi of wanting him to step down because he did not support her in the rape matter against the mayor.
“I am told that Sesame Nakedi has said to her friends that she is doing this because I did not support her in her dispute with the mayor. “MaBMD, I am not going to support you in any personal disputes you get involved in with other people. I will not take sides mo dilong tse di sa nkameng, tse le boammaruri ba tsona ke sa bo itseng.
“In this particular case, I wasn’t going to get the BMD in a fight with the BNF over dilo tse di sa re ameng. Please understand that and tell all others,” read the leaked message from Pilane.
Surprisingly, this publication has learnt that indeed Pilane was behind the deal to have the case quashed and offered Nakedi P100,000 so that she withdrew the case, which she since has done through an affidavit.
According to sources, Pilane held talks with Thutlwe’s lawyer, Kago Mokotedi over the issue calling on the two to have a meeting and reach a settlement agreement. Pilane is said to have further drafted the affidavit for withdrawal of the case.
It is, however, unclear whether Nakedi has received, or will receive the money. This publication can confirm that on July 5, 2018, Pilane deposited an amount of P15,000 into Nakedi’s bank account.
It is unclear whether the money was part of the deal. Nakedi would not be dragged into discussing the matter. Pilane had not responded to questions sent to him at the time of going to print.
However, BMD mouthpiece Rasina Rasina rubbished claims that Pilane offered Nakedi any monies. “The most he could do was encourage the two parties to talk about the issue. It is absurd to believe that Pilane could offer someone money to drop a case which doesn’t even have anything to do with the BMD or UDC.”
Rasina went on to rubbish claims that Pilane was running the BMD alone.
“We are shocked about what they said as the NEC. There are about 30 of us and nobody ever raised any complaint against the president. We shall, however, look into the letter they sent as the NEC and map the way forward,” he said.
Thutlwe referred the publication to Mokotedi, who would not confirm whether they were aware the charges were dropped. “It is best that you ask the police or the complainant as my client is the accused person in this case,” Mokotedi said.
Mokotedi denied ever discussing the issue with Pilane or his involvement in the matter. He also denied that his client ever made any money offers for the case to be withdrawn. Efforts to reach Masunga Police Station for confirmation of case withdrawal failed as their phone rang unanswered. A local newspaper last week reported that Masunga police confirmed that the case has been withdrawn.