BNF bails out Moupo?

Staff Writer | Wednesday November 28, 2007 00:00

There is talk that the move is necessary to bail out embattled BNF president Otsweletse Moupo who sources say has not complied with the registration requirements. It is understood that aspirants wishing to contest council and parliamentary elections under the BNF banner must pay P1,000 and P2,000 respectively as application fee. The deadline for the payment was Friday 23 November 2007. In addition to paying the fees, aspirants are expected to fill an application form and a profile form and sign an agreement to pay monthly contributions to the party in the event that they win the general elections.

Yesterday the BNF issued a press statement notifying the public that the primary elections nominations' deadline has been extended.

'The extension was necessitated by requests from different constituencies. This therefore means that all those who are interested in standing and did not submit their applications before November 23 are now free to do so. All those members who are interested in standing in the party primaries are informed that the party will not entertain any further extension and they should make an effort to meet the December 3 deadline,' reads a statement from the party publicity secretary Moeti Mohwasa. He said that it is outrageous to say that Moupo has not complied with the primary election requirements. 'I can confirm to you that Moupo has paid the P2,000 fee that was required of him,' he said.

Mmegi has confirmed that Moupo paid the application fees to the party account at FNB Main Mall branch a day before last week's deadline. However, party members said the payment is not the end of the process. They contend that Moupo had to fill all the application forms and deposit them with the constituency electoral board. They say that so far, he has not done this and therefore he is not eligible to contest. Moupo represents Gaborone West North constituency. The elections committee chairperson in the area did not want to discuss the party nominations saying it is the responsibility of the national elections board.

'It was not necessary for Moupo to fill any application forms,' says Mohwasa. He says the party executive committee had prior to the expiry of the deadline decided to extend the cut-off date to November 3. BNF national elections board boss, Lebohang Letsie said she was not in a position to confirm whether Moupo had met the requirements or not. 'We would only know after November 3 because the party executive committee has postponed the nominations.'

This is not the first time that the BNF nominations have been mired in controversy. Towards the 2004 general elections the party locked out former Gaborone North MP Michael Mzwinila after failing to pay registration fees within the stipulated time. The current BNF elections board comprise of Letsie, Joba Nnoi, Nonofo Kgafela and Justice Moilwa