UDC heading for collision cause
Chakalisa Dube | Friday February 16, 2018 15:27
The BCP is expected to table a formal motion at the UDC congress next week calling for the UDC to have one VP instead of two. The BCP members want the motion to be thoroughly debated and possibly be endorsed at the congress.
The UDC currently has Dumelang Saleshando of the BCP and the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) president Sidney Pilane as vice presidents. The argument of the BCP is that the two VP positions do not tally with the Constitution of the country.
The Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and the BMD who at one point were said to be political enemies have reportedly teamed up to counter the BCP proposal. Both parties were locked up in a meeting on Wednesday in Francistown.
Although both BPP and BMD officials said that the main agenda of the internal meeting was to strengthen working relations between the two parties, Mmegi has established that one of the main agenda items was to reportedly discuss the BCP proposal to have one VP.
The BPP and the BMD are reportedly of the view that the upcoming congress cannot endorse the decision to have one VP.
“At the meeting the BPP and the BMD were of the view that the congress is supposed to be a consultative congress that does not take decisions. “According to the understanding of the two parties (under the current coalition arrangement), should the BCP table a proposal to have one VP, the proposal must be taken for further discussion at a National Executive Committee (NEC) level. Any decision that is taken will be taken with regards to the motion will be taken at a NEC level,” said an insider who was party to this week’s meeting.
He added that, “Because the UDC is yet to be a fully-fledged party, decisions are taken by the NEC through a negotiated process. The two vice presidency positions were a result of a negotiated process”.
The source said the two parties hold the position that the UDC “is not an organised single structure, hence its congress cannot take decisions. Our view is that decisions are taken at a NEC level”.
But, as another key UDC insider yesterday said, their understanding is that the congress is eligible to endorse any motion put forward, including that of having a single vice president.
“There is a no congress that does not have the powers to take decisions. It is only that some BPP and BMD members want decisions to be taken in a model (through a NEC level) that suit them because they do not have the numbers. A congress is the supreme body of any party,” one key UDC insider said.
Although some insiders maintained the contrary, the BPP secretary general Venter Galetshabiwe said that BMD called the Wednesday meeting chiefly to encourage the party (BPP) to be assertive and effectively participate in UDC activities. The BMD SG Gilbert Mangole echoed Galetshabiwe’s stance.
Meanwhile, in Gaborone, the UDC leadership was locked in a leadership meeting yesterday where insiders said that the agenda of the congress was to be discussed.
At the time of going to press, UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa was unavailable for comment to shed light on the nature of the upcoming congress. He was said to be in a meeting.