Brawl Engulfs 'Tsholetsa' Rivals

By Ryder Gabathuse
Staff Writer | Monday February 11, 2008 00:00

Worried by the incident, Minister of Health, Professor Sheila Tlou reported to a four-man delegation led by Education Minister and BDP secretary general, Jacob Nkate on Saturday morning.

The fight featured Tlou versus last year's winner of the BDP primaries, Moiseraele 'Master' Goya. Because the boxers did not agree about who would emerge the winner of the re-run, they resorted to a fist fight to settle their argument.

'Because Tlou was worried by the development, she appealed to the BDP faithful who had attended the weekend party meeting to stop such things as such behaviour has the potential to tarnish the good image of the party,' a BDP insider revealed. Tlou is also quoted saying 'as candidates, we do not have any problems amongst ourselves and we relate very well because contesting against each other should never be misconstrued to mean enmity'. As if this was not enough, another altercation ensued just at the entrance of the Tsholetsa Hall where the weekend party meeting was held. This time it was not young men but older men who were at each other's throats. The two elderly men, Ransford Nkomo, the party's constituency chairman, clashed with Gregory Kealotswe, a Goya loyalist, to the extent that if Goya had not intervened, blood would have flowed.

The clashes developed into a shouting match and finger pointing. Finally, they swore at each other. Apparently, the two men are members of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, commonly known as IPCC. Their clashes had nothing to do with their church. Whilst Kealotswe was verbally attacking Nkomo, who is much older that he is, another woman, appeared on the scene and warned Kealotswe: 'If it was not for the many elderly people who are here, I would mix you with the sand in a matter of seconds'. Kealotswe, who was now overcome by anger, could not hold the tears that were visibly flowing down his cheeks. This unidentified woman further warned Kealotswe: 'Nna ga ke Nkomo. Ke tla go sugasuga boy - Don't think I am Nkomo. I will braze you with my fists and legs boy!' The woman bragged about her strength and how she used to crush her peers to pieces in her younger years. Goya found himself playing the role of mediator.

Just like Tlou, Goya is hopeful that all will be well 'as this thing is not driven by any of the candidates at all'. 'What we are yet to ascertain is whether these are our members or not,' said Nkomo. According to Nkomo: 'As the area chairman, I was just telling a party colleague Kealotswe to cooperate with the constituency leadership in future over pertinent issues and he said I was talking non-sense. 'Look. He came late to the meeting and he wanted to take the Nkate-led team backward. At this stage, it is critical for us to move forward rather than backwards'. Reacting, Kealotswe said: 'We want them to resign en masse so that we can enjoy peace here'.