BOPRITU loses bid to incorporate BOPRITA

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Tuesday June 14, 2011 00:00

While BOPRITU members walked out of the meeting in a boycott of the elections, remaining delegates went on to cast their votes with 276 BOPRITA members voting against the organisation being swallowed by BOPRITU. BOPRITA members feel that BOPRITU delegates walked out of the meeting because they realised that they were heavily out numbered and stood no chance of winning.

The purpose of the meeting was to determine whether BOPRITA should be dissolved and its assets and liabilities taken over by BOPRITU.

The acrimonious meeting was held following an interim court ruling by Lobatse High Court judge Isaac Lesetedi last month that since the two organisations constituted a common membership, they should convene a meeting at University of Botswana on June 11.

BOPRITA took BOPRITU to court to challenge the union's decision to transform BOPRITA's bank account into their own name.  BOPRITA bankers, First National Bank (FNB) who did not oppose the application, were cited as the second respondents.

In his interim ruling, Justice Lesetedi also ordered that BOPRITU should only be allowed access to the bank account solely to pay employees and rentals for the two organisations.  They should also draw funds to pay for costs of the joint meeting as well as provide a full account with all supporting documents for all the transactions that the court has ordered.

The court also ruled that in the interim, BOPRITU should make no further transactions on the bank account.  The court order stated that the resolution to be made at the June 11 meeting, shall bind the two organisations. Following the Saturday meeting, Justice Lesetedi will preside over the matter on Friday to make a final ruling. Speaking in an interview, BOPRITU president, Rita Moleti who insists the elections were not free and fair, said they walked out of the meeting because they were not happy with some processes.  'We decided to walk out.  But I don't want to say much because this matter is still in court.'

BOPRITA vice-president Jacob Tshipo said it was untrue that the elections were not free and fair. He said everything went according to what was agreed by both organisations. He said the meeting was jointly chaired by the attorneys of the two organisations, Duma Boko for BOPRITA and Batsho Nthoi for BOPRITU as stipulated by the High Court. One of the issues was how the delegates would vote. The BOPRITA leader said some delegates were calling for head counting while others proposed a secret ballot. He said the majority opted for a head count as the best system because it is transparent. Tshipo said there was also the issue of validation to confirm if the delegates were on the voters' roll.  He said there were arguments about the delegates who were not on the voters' roll. But the issue was resolved and it was agreed that some of the delegates should be allowed to vote. Tshipo said there were also unsubstantiated allegations of voter buying and intimidation. He said BOPRITU also accused the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) of supporting BOPRITA.

Tshipo said it was an open secret that BTU were their allies. The BOPRITA vice president said there was no tension on their side but in the BOPRITU corner.  He said it was apparent that BOPRITA members had turned up in large numbers much to the dismay of their counterparts. Tshipo said they are looking forward to the ruling on Friday. 'We can't say we have won. It is up to the court to make the final ruling,' he said. The electoral officer, Leonard Sesa of the UB political science department, insisted that the electoral process was agreed upon by the two parties. 'They agreed.'

However, he expressed concern that one of the parties abandoned the elections.  He said they decided to go ahead with the elections even when the other organisation boycotted. 

Sesa said this resulted in BOPRITA having 276 voters, while BOPRITU abstained. 

Meanwhile, BOPRITA president Sam Malete threatened that if the court orders that they be given back their assets, they will lodge another case of misappropriation of the association's funds. He claimed that BOPRITA funds have been misappropriated by BOPRITU officials. 

'We are worried about the funds that have been misappropriated,' he said.