BOFEPUSU washes its hands of BOPEU crisis
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday September 14, 2017 16:31
This is a turnaround from a few months ago when it pinpointed now expelled supremo, Andrew Motsamai, as mischief-maker in chief.
In April, BOFEPUSU deputy secretary general, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa penned an open letter titled ‘The problem is Motsamai’, in which he accused BOPEU’s former leader of running the union like a personal fiefdom.
BOPEU broke away from BOFEPUSU while Motsamai was still BOPEU president in 2015, over a litany of differences. Since 2015, the relationship between the two bodies has become embittered with the two engaging in several court battles and often failing to resolve their differences.
Motsamai was on Tuesday given the boot as Babereki Investments chairperson, in a cloud of allegations around misuse of millions of pula in funds. Babereki Investments is BOPEU’s investment wing housing millions of pula.
Yesterday, however, Motshegwa cut a diplomatic tone when asked whether Motsamai’s departure opened the path for more cordial relations between the two labour organisations.
“At the moment, we do not have an interest in what is happening at BOPEU. If we say we are not optimistic that there will be a reunion with BOPEU, to some it will be like we do not want to advance the course of the working class.
“On the other hand, if we say we are optimistic it will be like we wish Motsamai bad. For now, we want to stay as far as possible from the problems surrounding BOPEU,” Motshegwa said yesterday.
In its April letter, BOFEPUSU through Motshegwa, accused Motsamai of being so powerful that he ‘literally runs both BOPEU and Babereki’.
In the statement, Motshegwa added that BOPEU president, Masego Mogwera and her secretary general Topias Marenga had failed to tame Motsamai and added that Motsamai ruled BOPEU from Babereki Investments.
“He is powerful over Mogwera and Marenga that he controls BOPEU while they (Mogwera and Marenga) are helpless. He pulls the strings and no member of the Central Committee is prepared to stand up to him,” Motshegwa wrote.
Yesterday, Motshegwa was eager to distance BOFEPUSU from the goings-on at BOPEU. The deputy secretary general downplayed suggestions that BOFEPUSU might have indirectly engineered Motsamai’s downfall.
“Our federation is not interested in what is happening at BOPEU. I am not surprised because when people have their own problems they bring BOFEPUSU into the occasion.”