BPP�s Molapisi allegedly snubs UDC
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday August 3, 2017 18:00
This was the first UDC NEC meeting that the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) attended as well as post the controversial Bobonong Congress of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD).
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss issues surrounding the ongoing battles at the BMD.
The party is divided into two factions, one led by newly-elected president, Sidney Pilane and the other by deposed president, Ndaba Gaolathe. Sources allege that the latter’s faction cautioned Molapisi against attending the NEC meeting, which the BCP was going to attend. It is believed that Molapisi, who is considered to be under the control of the Gaolathe faction, took that caution and missed the meeting.
“I received a call this morning from Moeti Mohwasa (the UDC spokesperson), who wanted to know whether I was attending or not. I was not formally invited, and even other BPP members who are part of the NEC were not there, or were not aware of the meeting,” he said.
Moreover, Molapisi felt that there is no resolution that admits the BCP into UDC NEC meetings. “We are yet to be informed why BCP was invited to the meeting too. It’s news to us that the BCP is formally under the UDC. We will discuss it after we are all in the same picture,” Molapisi, who is a practising reverend, said.
However, Mohwasa defensively said: “That is not true! Molapisi was invited to the meeting last week. He knew about this meeting. I cannot say anything much, but the meeting continued and a quorum was formed, but the issue of BMD that was second on the agenda was deferred to August 12, 2017. The members felt that communication should be extended to those who could not make it to enable more members to come”.
The UDC spokesperson said they have received the letter from Gaolathe’s team that made request for intervention. The UDC NEC also took a resolution to request a response from Pilane’s team to state their position on whether or not they are ready for the coalition’s intervention.
“If the other team agrees to it, we would then call them for a hearing for the issue to be listened to. The other UDC meeting would be held in Francistown next week,” Mohwasa said. Mmegi observed that neither of the BMD leaders attended yesterday’s meeting. Last month, UDC president, Duma Boko said BMD would not be invited when their issue is discussed and they would be called by the UDC NEC to give evidence to their differences. The factions are going to meet in court after the Ndaba-(Wynter) Mmolotsi faction instituted legal action against its rival, Pilane-(Nehemiah) Modubule-(Gilbert) Mangole faction.