SELEBI-PHIKWE: A meeting organised by the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) last week to pacify its discontented councillors in Selebi-Phikwe has made matters worse. After the meeting, one of the councillors, Lekang Mukokomani, a former mayor, resigned forthwith from the party and unconfirmed reports say two others have quit. Mukokomani said the meeting they held with BCP secretary general, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang and organising secretary, Vain Mamela has contributed a lot to his immediate resignation. "I was not ready to resign now. There are serious factions within the party that render it dysfunctional. I feel sorry for loyal party members who are unaware of what is happening," he said. He said there is no professionalism in the BCP leadership and some officials treat themselves as if they are the party constitution. Another BCP councillor, Leungo Mathaio said she was one of the people threatened to be barred from contesting in the next general elections.
"Ke ne ke na le maikutlo mangwe ee, but BCP does not belong to an individual and whoever wants to run it the way he/she wants must go and register a party that will be regulated by his personal feelings," she said. She said that she has observed that certain councillors fuel tensions in the BCP ranks in Selebi-Phikwe.
The tensions forced the BCP to send Gobotswang and Mamela to meet the councillors and general membership in an attempt to make peace. However, the councillors seemed unimpressed. A worried Gobotswang has said the party is seriously concerned with divisions among its Selebi-Phikwe councillors.
He said it was necessary for the party leadership to come to Selebi-Phikwe because the divisions must end, otherwise they will ultimately affect the general membership of the party. "We also need to talk to general members to take them on board in terms of these concerns and get their views on the issue, identify the cause of the problems and come up with suggestions and the way forward," he said.
He explained that councillors were approached one by one to be shown their mistakes.
"They realised their mistakes and some tried to justify their actions, while others were willing to change the way they have been doing things. They noticed that their bickering was detrimental to the party's survival," he added. He said there is a need for the party to provide a clear guidance to councillors.
He said that they observed that some of the problems emanated from the failure by councillors to follow processes like implementation of caucus resolutions and ignoring leadership advice.
He said recommendations they will make will not ignore processes like vetting that has its own regulations and said the party cannot rush in taking disciplinary actions. He said they are revising primary elections regulations to make them clearer and transparent and minimise dissatisfaction by losers. He said councillors in Selebi-Phikwe presented serious challenges compared to their counterparts in other constituencies. He added that there was a general agreement in all the meetings that there are serious divisions but there was convergence in identifying the culprits.
Mamela said they have gathered enough information and realised that other issues causing divisions date way back to the party primary elections. "Something needs to be done urgently. The party leadership has been also blamed for delaying to come and address the issues in Selebi-Phikwe. Meetings went well and we accomplished our mission but some of them were stormy because we were discussing issues related to divisions," he noted.
