Delivering her verdict in the case this week, Justice Boipuso Makhwe of the Lobatse High Court said she finds that Bosilong is indeed a member of the SDP and his expulsion is consistent with the constitution of the BPF. In a letter dated November 7, 2023, BPF secretary-general (SG), Lawrence Ookeditse, who is a respondent in the matter, informed Bosilong that the party has decided to terminate his membership “with immediate effect”. Bosilong then approached the court indicating that his expulsion from the BPF is an attempt to frustrate the proceedings before court in another case in which he was challenging for the presidency of the BPF.
In the case before Justice Itumeleng Segopolo, Bosilong wanted a declaration that the elections for presidency of the BPF held at the congress of September 16-17, 2023 are unlawful and thereby set-aside. In her judgement, Justice Makhwe pointed out that Bosilong argues that the decision to expel him on November 8, 2023 was made while there were pending proceedings before court. In his heads of argument, Bosilong stated that a scanned copy of the writ of summons had been circulating in social media at the time when the purported decision was made. “Besides the above statement by the applicant in his heads of argument, nowhere does the applicant make the above point in his founding affidavit. Even if it were true, there is no evidence that the respondents became aware of the circulating summons. Even if they were aware, until served with such process, the respondents are legally entitled to ignore such until formerly and properly served in accordance with our rules of court,” Justice Makhwe further stated. The judge added that Bosilong has generally sought to make a case in his heads of argument that is not in his founding papers.
