BDP lands in the lion's den

Immediately, he was elected the sixth BDP president in Maun at the party’s elective congress recently, Mpho Balopi, whose fallout with former State and party president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, was legendary, conceded that reconciliation with Bangwato tribe and tribal leadership was a priority. Balopi and his BDP team know very well what they have brought themselves into, in their endeavours to make peace with Bangwato and their tribal leadership.

Khama and Bangwato in Serowe and surrounding villages have had incessant skirmishes with the government of the BDP, with the latter often unleashing the State machinery on the tribe. On several occasions, the government unleashed the feared Special Support Group (SSG) to bar the tribe from attending kgotla meetings in support of their chief and former president Ian Khama, who was on a self-imposed exile in South Africa with some of his family members.