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Balopi to apologise to Masisi’s victims

Balopi. PIC PHATSIMO KAPENG.
Balopi. PIC PHATSIMO KAPENG.

Even though Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) presidential hopeful Mpho Balopi claims he never fell out with former president Mokgweetsi Masisi, the former Gaborone North legislator says he wants to apologise to people who were hard done by the past regime.

Balopi, who didn’t defend his secretary-general (SG) position at the party’s last congress in Tsabong, told the media yesterday that his mission in case he wins at the party’s elective congress in May is to ask for forgiveness. He mentioned names like former Lobatse Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Thapelo Matsheka, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko of the Bamalete, the Khama family, and the Bangwato tribe. Masisi relegated Matsheka, the former Finance minister, from presiding over the country’s coffers to a junior minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development before eventually serving in the backbench towards the latter years of the 12th Parliament. Matsheka has in the past bemoaned the ill-treatment and abuse he experienced at the hands of the feared Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) during his tenure as a legislator.

Matsheka, who is suing the security organ, indicated that it was a malicious act for the DIS to portray him as a criminal. Balopi has also indicated that he will apologise to Balete chief Kgosi Mosadi who also suffered under Masisi’s regime. In 2022, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, the Kgosikgolo of Ba Ga-Malete sent tongues wagging when she made allegations that Masisi interfered with the Judiciary and wanted to play hero in the dispute between the Malete Land Board and the Bamalete over the lucrative Forest Hill 9-KO. Masisi later defended himself saying that had he interfered as alleged, Balete would have lost the case. Although her tribe eventually won the case, Kgosi Mosadi was later removed from the Pan African Parliament (PAP) as punishment.

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