Butale has cited Khama in an urgent application before the High Court seeking to overturn his suspension. This comes shortly after Khama hinted at a BPF rally that he does not get along with Butale because he has taken him to court in the past. Butale has cited Khama, who is the sixth respondent in the matter, in his capacity as the BPF patron.
In the application, Butale says he also cited Khama because the latter is “part of the cohort causing instability within the BPF”. Butale also wants an order declaring that members of the NEC’s conduct in holding of the June 5 meeting without his involvement is contrary to the BPF constitution at article 20.6.1 and further contemptuous of an order of the court issued on April 26, 2023. Speaking of the High Court order, in April Butale had to run to court where he successfully defended his presidential position.
Butale survived an ouster then after the court ruled in his favour in a case in which he sought the court's intervention to declare his legitimacy as the BPF president.
This followed his utterances to the effect that he had resigned from the BPF at a NEC meeting. After Butale’s victory, Khama was said to be frustrated and rumoured to be forming a breakaway party and leaving the BPF to Butale. With the new party not materialising, the BPF vice president and current acting president Mephato Reatile arranged a meeting between Khama and some members of the BPF NEC last week in South Africa but Butale allegedly refused to attend. After Khama’s weekend utterances Butale said: “Khama is my father, I will talk to him”. Before Butale could talk to Khama, he was suspended on Monday and now the only ‘talk’ he will have with the patron is through the courts as he mounts another legal action.
Although the BPF factions have tried to put aside their differences, Khama and Butale’s relations have blown hot and cold since Butale returned to the helm of the party after a year suspension in 2022.
In 2021 Butale was embroiled in a scandalous controversy when a recoding emerged that he may have sexually abused a young female party colleague. Soon after the allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled against him, he was suspended from the presidency of the BPF. For a long time during the period of his suspension, Butale had fallen out with Khama.
Last year after assuming back his role, Butale told this publication that he thought Khama was the mastermind behind his downfall and the recording which was leaked to the public. “Whoever recorded my conversation with her decided to add Khama’s voice at the end to make it seem like he was the one recording it. I was so convinced that Khama was the one behind the recording at the time. But what really surprised me is that Khama approached me and asked to discuss this issue.
I thought to myself, why would this man record a damaging conversation only to relax and ask for a sit down with me? I wondered if he wasn’t aware of the damage he had done to me. But as it turned out, he was just genuine,” said Butale. Butale added that he suspected Khama all this time during the period of his suspension but only realised in 2022 that the former statesman was not behind all this. He also disclosed that all this time Khama kept sending him WhatsApp messages and even went to the extent of sending people to talk to him.
After kissing and making up with Khama last year October, Butale began his second tenure at the BPF by making a lot of Khama backed changes among others suspending BPF spokesperson Lawrence Ookeditse, then presidential aspirant Samson Moyo Guma, and the former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Francistown South branch chairperson, Ford Moiteela. Butale and Khama’s good buddies’ relationship never lasted. Khama publicly declared that he wants to contest for the BPF president.
This is said to have gotten Butale worried since Khama is very popular within the BPF and has numbers. From what Khama was saying virtually at the weekend rally in Serowe, he has not spoken with Butale this year. He disclosed that it had been six months and in that period, Butale had never picked up a phone to call him as the BPF patron.
Khama indicated that Butale has postponed elections because he wants to hang on to his leadership position. Butale, who is the BPF democratically elected president, on the other side is a fighter.
It seems like he will battle tooth and nail to keep his position. Although he suffered one court loss before when he battled to take over the presidency from former BPF acting President Caroline Lesang, this will be Butale’s third battle for the soul of the BPF.
A lawyer by profession, Butale knows that the only way to tackle Khama is through the courts, something that he (Khama) does not like. As he heads back to court, Butale, who was suspended by the BPF NEC on Monday, wants the court on a matter of urgency to make an order declaring that the NEC meeting of June 5, 2013 which had him suspended is unlawful and thereby its resolutions set aside as pro non scripto (as not written).
