What is the BDP doing to itself?

However, they should be careful not to debase our established norms of etiquette and protocol.

Your story ('Merafhe snubbed') paints a picture that is too painful to look at.
Even when he is conducting politics, Mompati Merafhe is still vice president and should be accorded the respect that befits his office. The ill-mannered emcee at the BDP event may have been pandering to the depravity of his political handlers but he was disrespecting an office that (God forbid) he may one day hold and expect to be accorded due respect. Long after Merafhe has left politics, the office of the vice president will still exist because it was established by the constitution.