BCP suspends 10 members
Onalenna Kelebeile | Thursday October 26, 2017 18:00
The suspended members are due to appear for hearings before the party’s disciplinary committee next week, BCP secretary general Kentse Rammidi confirmed yesterday.
He said the suspended group’s actions were in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the party has entered into with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
“That is indiscipline that we cannot allow. We have an agreement with the UDC that we must uphold. The disciplinary hearing next week will determine a way forward.
“Every party member has an obligation to abide by party decisions. Party decisions are collective, nobody can go against them otherwise we will have no point being a party,” he said.
Rammidi added that Dabutha a former member, would also be arraigned for hearing before the disciplinary committee within two weeks. He said the party has not received any resignation letter from Dabutha who has also been suspended.
Meanwhile, some BCP members in Tshimoyapula/Majwanaadipitse ward have written to the party expressing concerns over the suspensions and demanding explanation as to how their support for Dabutha was an offence.
In the letter written last week, party members said they were disturbed by the turn of events after they had “worked very hard to establish the party in an area where it was non-existent for too long”.
The letter also accuses the party leadership of imposing decisions on them without consultations. “We believe that we are BCP members in good standing in the ward, hence we have every reason to be concerned when fellow members are suspended,” the letter reads in part. They continue, stating that, “There is a lot of confusion in the ward because members want to understand how supporting Dabutha who recruited and mobilised them in the ward is an offence to the party.
“A lot of us rally behind Dabutha and waged all our support for her, hence we are wondering if we are also on suspension or not”.
The ward chairperson, Johane Mothoosele confirmed that they had written to the party leadership and said members expected a satisfactory answer, failing which they would resign en masse and seek an alternative political home.
“We did not have any problem with any agreement that our party entered into with the UDC but we could have appreciated if the party came to us to get our opinions and input instead of imposing a candidate on us,” he said.
Rammidi has, however, denied receipt of the letter from the ward.
Dabutha in a recent interview said she was not going back to the BCP and chances were high that she would join Alliance for Progressives (AP) but only after fully “understanding its ideologies and constitution”.
“I am not going back to the BCP because they have rejected me,” said Dabutha who also confirmed that the AP has approached her after the by-election.
The Botswana Democratic Party retained the ward in the recent by-election, trouncing the UDC and Dabutha, who could only garner 63 votes.