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.
These actions, she argued, amounted to clear voter rigging. Unfortunately, there was no accountability to address these corrupt practices, which left voters frustrated and bitter. “By the time of the 2024 polls, they had not healed,” Seitlhamo said. The Gaborone North secretary said the BDP members believe that the missteps during the Palapye congress, the flawed campaign strategy, and a lack of proper leadership engagement, were major factors that led to their electoral loss. She indicated that the party now faces the challenge of mending internal divisions and reconnecting with the electorate. The secretary said the vetting process was badly managed. She mentioned that the primary platform became overcrowded with seven candidates for MPs and councillors, which created divisions and disunity. Therefore, according to the report, this led to lingering hurt feelings and unresolved issues, causing voters to focus more on individuals than the party itself. Furthermore, they said denying candidates access to accurate and final voters' roll after their P10,000 and P5,000 contributions was a violation of the right to know and deprived them of the excellent coordination of campaign efforts after investing so much of family and intellectual resources. For their experience as the constituency committee, Seitlhamo said the Gaborone North branch committee was bullied by the region to compromise its leadership efforts. “This was deliberate alignment, consultation and communication channels with candidates over the branch committee, which is usually the case. As a result, recently registered candidates who were unfamiliar with how the party structures operate have been mobilising at ward level to undermine the branch committee, aiming to establish structures they can capture and control, “ Seitlhamo pointed out. The branch secretary complained that even during the General Election, the region had been issuing letters of threat and grounding the branch function to render the constituency ungovernable.
She further said the recently established ward committees resisted and delayed implementing scheduled committee orientation activities, which further destabilised the overall line-up of branch leadership activities. Other issues that the constituency secretary reported to have contributed included a lack of cooperation and unity among candidates and a poor constitution of the campaign team after the primary election. She hinted at the lack of equal representation from various camps of candidates hence persisting differences and indifference. She said tension was high with an element of boasting by those who felt successful. Also, weak committee members and structures were a major setback. However, the Gaborone North constituency presented that primaries must be strictly coordinated and managed in line with constitutional provisions. Responding to allegations raised by the Gaborone North scribe, the BDP spokesperson Kagelelo Kentse said: “The party may develop guidelines at anytime. Those guidelines were not bordering or in conflict with the BDP constitution.”
He added: “You cannot constitute the party loss to one thing by saying it's the cause of the elections’ loss, there are many factors. The party leadership admitted that we had challenges with the primaries and there is no doubt about it.”
