Councillors will not follow Makgalemele

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Thursday August 12, 2010 00:00

Dovedale-Maphashalala councillor Neo Magowe, specially elected councillor, Bobby Babusi, and the former BDP regional chairman for Shoshong/Mahalapye (SHOMA), defected to BMD last month with Makagelemele who is also the MP for Shoshong.

However, in a surprise move, Makgalemele announced this week that he was trekking back to the BDP.

Speaking in an interview, Babusi said he is still a staunch BMD member.  'I am not shaken. I am not moving,' he vowed.

Babusi said he was shocked by Makgalemele's sudden decision to go back to the BDP.

He said Makgalemele never informed them about his proposed move.  Babusi said he first heard about the decision last Thursday.  He talked to Makgalemele about the issue on Friday.

Makgalemele told him that he was under pressure. Babusi, is also Makgalemele's business partner. Babusi said he has not been approached by the BDP to go back to the party. Ntwaagae, also a former councillor for Kalamare, insisted that he is still a BMD member and he is not going anywhere.

Ntwaagaae said he is not shocked by Makgalemele's move because some people are not ashamed of the decisions they make.  He said at the end of the day Makgalemele is a human being and he is prone to make errors of judgment.

Ntwaagae said they did not decide to resign from the BDP because it was fashionable. He said there were reasons that compelled them to leave the party.  He added that he could not go back to the BDP because those reasons are still valid. 

Ntwaagae said Makgalemele did not inform them about his plans to relocate to the BDP. Ntwaagae confirmed that he has also been approached to re-join the BDP but no monetary offers were made.  'They were just trying to convince me'.  But he is not interested.  

Magowe says although he respects the decision that the MP has taken, he does not believe it a wise move.'Maybe he has found that things have been rectified at the BDP,' he said.

Magowe says Makgalemele has dug his own political grave. He says the people of Shoshong will never have confidence in Makgalemele. Magowe said as a political leader one must take a principled stand.

Magowe said he remains committed to BMD. 'There is no reason why I should go,' he said. He added when he called Makgalemele on Friday he said he was under pressure from his family.

'I have heard rumours that they will come for me.  But I would like to know whether my grievances have been addressed,' says Magowe.

In July, the three councillors and Makgalemele issued a joint press statement mainly centred on poor inner party democracy 'which continues to deteriorate, and some misguided policies currently being implemented'.

'We started being concerned in the run up to the 2009 BDP congress that was held in Kanye.  We were particularly disappointed by the lack of botho that was demonstrated the former secretary general against the party chairman, Rre Kwelagobe.

We became even more worried when the president of the BDP went around the country campaigning for his preferred candidate in the BDP chairmanship race, and in the process discrediting Kwelagobe as sickly and power hungry. 

We believed and still believe that Rre Kwelagobe had done nothing wrong, and that he simply exercised his democratic right to stand for election.'

They stated that after the Kanye congress, it became clear that the President never accepted the wishes of the BDP family, disregarding the central committee in running the affairs of the party. 

'It was clear at that time that the president was then running the party through sub committees that comprised mainly of A-team members that he had appointed on the advice of the A-team leadership.

'It is also clear that the party president favours other members over others and that disciplinary action is taken against some members, mainly Barata-Phathi whilst others, mainly A-team members are left off the hook. 

'We are still at loss why the former secretary general Rre Nkate and other A-team members never faced the music when they insulted party chairman Kwelagobe through various newspaper articles in the run up to the 2009 Kanye congress.

'We are against a leadership that punishes and forgives selectively,' they stated.