BDP's Kwerepe targets BMD

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday June 4, 2010 00:00

 

Less than a year ago, Kwerepe who was an unknown political novice. He was a member of the Barata-Phathi faction in the BDP. 

Kwerepe used the Barata-Phathi  ticket to gain a central committee position during the Kanye congress.  By then if he was with the A-team faction, there was a likelihood that he could not have  made it into the central committee. 

Barata-Phathi  swept all the central committee seats at the Kanye congress.  The only seat which was left was that of the president because the incumbent leader Ian Khan ran unopposed. 

But after the Kanye congress, Kwerepe was singing a different tune as he dumped Barata-Phathi  and renounced factionalism.  The man who has been embracing factionalism had suddenly become a born again.

The same person who used factionalism to win a central committee seat was denouncing the system that benefited him. Kwerepe who joined active politics less than three years ago, has benefited from the BDP factionalism more than any other party official.   Kwerepe is the son of the former MP for Ngami, Gaerolwe Kwerepe.  He joined politics after retiring as a secondary school head.

In no time, he was appointed the party secretary general following the suspension of Gomolemo Motswaledi.  BDP president, Ian Khama, appointed Kwerepe to become the secretary general, overlooking the deputy secretary general, Wynter Mmolotsi, who was elected to that post in Kanye.   It was expected that if the secretary general had been suspended, his deputy would take over.  It was Mmolotsi who was acting in that post before Khama made his controversial appointment. 

The appointment of Kwerepe to the secretary general post, led to the resignation of three central committee members namely Mmolotsi, Kabo Morwaeng and Samson Guma Moyo resigning.   

As the BDP secretary general, Kwerepe is also a member of the disciplinary committee (DC).  He was sitting in the DC hearings which decided to expel Mmolotsi, Morwaeng, Guma Moyo and other activists who were associated with the Barata-Phathi faction. 

Since the BDP infighting intensified, Kwerepe has become a busy man. Of late he has been shuttling between Maun and Gaborone to attend the DC meetings.Kwerepe did not only benefit by becoming the secretary general.  After last year's general elections, he was appointed as a specially nominated councillor in the North West District Council (NWDC).   

In 2008, Kwerepe contested the BDP parliamentary primary elections against Jacob Nkate.  After he was defeated in the primaries, Kwerepe cried foul.  At some stage, Nkate was uncertain about whether Kwerepe would assist him in his campaign for the parliamentary elections.  

Kwerepe has now embarked on a crusade against the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). He was amongst the speakers during the recent BDP 'star rally' which was held in Old Naledi.  This weekend he will be addressing another 'star rally' in Maun with the controversial MP for Maun West, Tawana Moremi. 

Tawana is like a lost sheep. Although he attended the meeting where the idea to form BMD was born, Tawana has developed cold feet.   When he was addressing delegates during the Mogoditshane meeting, Tawana said forming a new party was the only way forward.  During the Maun rally, Tawana will be attacking BMD, a party that he is supporting its cause.

Other speakers at the rally will be prominent Maun businessman, John Wellio, former deputy secretary-general, Kentse Rammidi, and the MP for Maun East, Frank Ramsden.Ironically, Kwerepe has been dismissing BMD as a non-starter that will not shake the BDP.But yet he is organising rallies to annihilate the new party.  Addressing a recent press conference in Francistown, Kwerepe is quoted saying that 'although there is disability in the BDP,the party  remains solid'. 

He asserted that the BDP is not threatened by BMD.'The BDP is intact and it remains so,' Kwerepe declared.  Kwerepe said they went to Francistown to build the party structures at the Francistown South constituency.This was due to the fact that the BDP structures in that region have resigned to join BMD. Despite Kwerepe's denials, the walls are beginning to crack within the BDP. The massive attendance at the BMD convention on Saturday has proved that the new party cannot be easily dismissed. 

Maybe this is the reason why the BDP is beginning to address star rallies which are usually held prior to elections.  But this time the purpose of the rallies is to counter the BMD. The BDP is no longer concerned with the traditional opposition parties like the Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Congress Party (BCP).   All their ammunition is now targeting BMD.