BDP Believes That 'BMD Is No Threat'

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Monday May 31, 2010 00:00

 

Part of the agenda for this tour is to inform democrats that Wynter Mmolotsi has been expelled from the BDP and is no longer their representative. The two will also be checking the condition of the party structures in Francistown South and other places where there were expulsions or resignations to replace, according to the constitution, those who might have been expelled or who have defected to the Botswana Movement for Democracy.

Kwerepe said this when addressing a press conference at Marang Hotel in Francistown on May 28.

When asked whether the party was not worried that the defections might weaken the BDP to the extent of it losing the next elections, the secretary general said that they will not dent BDP.  Said Kwerepe: 'We are not threatened at all particularly because the defectors do not cite any fundamental or ideological differences between us and them. These are personal differences. The BDP is intact and will remain so'. Kwerepe said that the reason the BDP could not succumb to a split like the BPP and the BNF is because, 'the BDP is a big party'.

In response to a question, Serema told the press that Batswana need not worry that in addressing the factional squabbles in the party, the BDP might neglect to address the bread and butter issues that affect them daily, such as poverty and unemployment.  'Those running government are on the ground and everything is on course,' he said. Serema pointed out in no uncertain terms that because of the extent of lack of discipline on the part of the likes of Mmolotsi, Sydney Pilane, Samson Guma, Botsalo Ntuane and others over the years, their departure can only be a 'blessing in disguise' because even in the last elections, they worked with the opposition against their own party.  He revealed that even those that are Members of Parliament among them failed the BDP because they always passed motions in Parliament that discredited it.

When told that Mmolotsi had paraded whole committees at a press conference the previous day in Francistown, Serema said that he is confident that some of the people would retrace their steps back to the BDP. At the recent BDP meeting in Gaborone, the BDP National Chairman, Daniel Kwelagobe, admitted that there were problems in the party and called upon the leadership to do some introspection.

At the press conference, Kwerepe said that there would be no introspection as that would amount to undoing all that has been done. Instead, he said, 'We need to close the chapter and forge ahead'.  They denied that there is selective justice in the BDP. The two defended the recent disciplinary actions taken against some members as having achieved the intended purpose, the objective of deterring would-be offenders.

'However, to date, there are no disciplinary measures pending,' Kwerepe reported.