BDP investigates Ntirang over Malema attack

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Friday August 12, 2011 00:00

 

BDP secretary general Kentse Rammidi said that they are investigating the matter concerning Ntirang's public statement against Malema and that the party will take appropriate measures to resolve it.

'We have advised our structures to desist from making comments directed at challenging the integrity of our fraternal friends, the civil society in Botswana and the region at large. The principle of botho has been very much intricately woven in the fabric of our party and we would not want such comments to be associated with the BDP,' he said.

Rammidi said that though it is regretful that the ANCYL, a fraternal partner, attacked the BDP in public it is satisfied with the humility displayed by the ANC in handling the matter. 

Ntirang reportedly said the ANC should keep its dog on the leash, referring to Malema. Addressing a rally in Francistown the politician reportedly  said, 'Malema is a loose canon.' 

Recently Malema called the ruling BDP, a puppet government that pursues neo-colonialist policies that favour the imperial powers at the detriment of Africa.

The ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has lately lambasted the ANCYL for making statements calling for the toppling of the BDP government through elections by working with the opposition parties in Botswana.   Mantashe said the league was undermining the ANC leadership. At the moment the ANC youth league is said to be in dialogue with its mother body over the matter.

Meanwhile Botswana National Front Youth League (BNFYL) political education secretary Malatsi Mokhubami, which also has a fraternal relationship with the ANCYL has lambasted Ntirang for his public attack on Malema saying the BDP leadership should come out clearly to challenge assertions that the ruling party is a neo-colonial and imperialist and a threat to the security of the African continent.

Mokhubami also said the ANCYL leadership's resolution to establish a Botswana Command team to help the opposition parties in the country is a welcome development.  'So, Malema owes nobody an apology over his comments that come 2014, Batswana should experience change of government.  That Comrade Malema is a loose cannon is just a pathetic and nonsensical statement from a person who is drunk with power and scared of radical transformation of society,' he said.

Contacted for comment, Ntirang said he was not in a position to discuss the matter 'because I am driving'.