More could fall foul of Domkrag vetting

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Friday August 30, 2013 00:00

 

The vetting process for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections is reportedly showing its ugly face as sitting Members of Parliament are working round the clock to save their political careers.With the Central Committee sitting on Monday, some MPs are keeping their fingers crossed that the committee does not overrule branch committee decisions and toss them over for new blood.After news that the MP for Palapye Moiseraela Goya was vetted by his branch committee, sources say the same axe has fallen on the head of Tswapong North MP, Prince Maele.

However, the Secretary of the Branch Committee, Emma Motshabi, could not be drawn into discussing who is in or out of the primary elections yesterday. She said the vetting process was confidential and she was therefore not at liberty to disclose who had survived the process and who had not.Another BDP politician who has suffered a setback is the former Botswana National Front (BNF) MP for Gaborone West South, Robert Molefhabangwe. Sources say Molefhabangwe, who was hoping to resurrect his political career with the ruling party, was vetted, leaving the incumbent Robert Masitara and the former Botswana Congress Party (BCP) activist Ben Stegling as frontrunners for the renamed Gaborone Bonington North Constituency.

Molefhabangwe was expelled from the BNF with several others by the then party leader Otsweletse Moupo and opted to join the BDP.Contacted for comment, he claimed ignorance of the development, adding that relevant authorities would make a pronouncement at an appropriate time. 'At the end of the whole exercise, the relevant authorities will tell who applied and who has been vetted,' he said. 'I consider it unethical and unprofessional to try to make me part of the rumour-mongering. The only information I have is about the Orapa by-election in which I am busy campaigning for the BDP candidate. 'Slander and wishful thinking borne of sour grapes are not my line. Don't you think that you will know the truth when the elections committee announces who is where?'