While some party leaders and members expressed displeasure after their president, Mephato Reatile, announced that he had used his powers to pull out the party from the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) earlier this year, the members have now instituted legal proceedings demanding answers. Party members Mmapula Amos, Boatametse Nthobogang and Rajaba Lekgaba have instituted legal proceedings against the party, Reatile and secretary-general, Lawrence Ookeditse, demanding clarity on the party’s stance regarding its alliance with the UDC. Represented by Segadimo Legal Practice, the three applicants also filed supporting affidavits from members of the party central committee Catherine Sepora, Ford Moiteela, Shadrack Baaitse and Amogelang Mokwena. According to their court papers, the members want the application to be urgent and setting aside all rules of the court relating to time limits, service of process and other related matters.
They also want an order declaring Reatile's "unilateral decision to remove the BPF from membership of the UDC to constitute an unlawful violation of the party's constitution and is consequently null and void". They also seek an order directing Ookeditse to submit or cause to be submitted names of all the candidates for local government and parliamentary elections that will represent the BPF in the UDC in the 2024 General Election forthwith. In the court papers, they recount a series of events that have led to the current turmoil. The trouble, they state began on August 6, 2022, when the BPF’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met with the UDC’s NEC to discuss collaboration. During this meeting, they stated it was agreed that the BPF would join the UDC with equal representation in the UDC's NEC, and constituency and ward allocations would be determined following the Delimitation Commission Report.
However, they state at the BPF’s national conference and extraordinary congress held on April 29-30, 2023, the party ratified the NEC's decision to join the UDC. "The conference also resolved to take disciplinary action against members who defied party decisions and granted the NEC full authority to engage with the UDC. But the situation worsened when, at another Extraordinary Congress on September 15-17, 2023, a leadership crisis led to the expulsion of Biggie Ganda Butale and Moiseraela Goya for gross indiscipline. They were accused of disrespecting the national congress resolution to join the UDC," they stated. It turned sour on April 7, 2024, when the BPF president announced in a media briefing in Serowe that the party had reneged on its decision to join the UDC, opting instead for a pact. "The president of the party apparently held a media briefing where he is alleged to have indicated that the party had reneged on its decision to join the UDC and wanted to have a pact with the UDC instead," they stated. This announcement, they state, was met with confusion and disbelief by some NEC members who claim they were unaware of such a meeting or decision.
"The said media report remains nothing but a rumour within the party to the extent that the party has not issued any Memorandum to date confirming the said purported decision of the National Executive Committee and/or the president if indeed that decision was ever made," they lament. Some BPF members have already decided to stand under the BPF as the UDC president, Duma Boko, has made it clear that those who had already been allocated constituency and wards through the BPF could stand using the UDC ticket. The court case comes at a time when the BPF is still grappling with cleaning primary elections malpractice mess in Serowe. Elections results were not released owing to widespread rigging allegations across the three constituencies. The party is still investigating and yet to determine when the elections could be held.
