According to a report presented by Boipelo Seitlhamo, the Gaborone North constituency secretary, at Tsholofelo Hall last Sunday, the deviations from constitutional norms during the Palapye congress set the stage for divisiveness within the party and ultimately during the party primaries. This, she argued, resulted in an unjust and damaging criterion for primary elections, causing internal conflict. “There was a war within the party,” Seitlhamo remarked. In her detailed eight-page submission, Seitlhamo chronicled the polarisation within the party which created two opposing factions. She said the division led to the rise of the popular phrase “Batho ba Bagolo,” which symbolised the antagonistic camps forming within the BDP structures.
The Gaborone North secretary said party members criticised the campaign strategy, noting that it was overly centralised. “The focus on individual candidates rather than the party as a whole contributed to the loss. Additionally, there were complaints about the unequal distribution of merchandise, which left many feeling disconnected from the campaign,” she said. Seitlhamo, also addressed the failure of former ministers and councillors to maintain regular contact with the public. She said legislators and councillors rarely engaged in policy discussions or interacted with the community and party structures. Therefore, as a result, the party’s presence dwindled, and people increasingly distanced themselves from it. On the matter of primary elections, Seitlhamo emphasised several issues, including the unconstitutional execution of the voter registration mandate by the political education and electoral committee (PEEC), which violated both Article 8.1 and Article 1(c) of the regulations for primary elections. She also accused the leadership of unfairly removing party members from the voters’ roll and denying them their right to vote.
