Guma finally leaves troubled BPF

Guma Moyo. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Guma Moyo. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO

Botswana Patriotic Front's (BPF) controversy-ridden Samson Moyo Guma has resigned from the party after a heated national executive (NEC) meeting. Mmegi Staffer SHARON MATHALA caught up with the political ‘nomad’ as he reveals deep intimate ‘secrets’ of the political space.

At the inception of the interview, Mmegi put it to Moyo that it seems he is always leaving, just like his famous expression, when it gets hot in the kitchen. But Moyo attempts to explain that he is not always on the move. Moyo previously left his assistant ministerial portfolio, and chairmanship of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) central committee. Subsequently, he left the BDP on his own in 2010 to form the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and returned to the ruling party two years later. He left the party again in 2019 and eventually the country the following year. He then joined the BPF which he resigned from this week. Giving an account of the times he has left each organisation, Moyo reveals that in most cases he was pushed out. He mentions the time he left Cabinet saying he was pushed out after he refused to appoint one Dr Thapelo Matsheka as head of Botswana Development Corporation (BDC). He claims after he refused to do as instructed, he was quickly told of a Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) investigation against him and ordered to resign from Cabinet by the then president, Ian Khama. “When I maintained that I am not leaving, Khama still went on to announce that I had left,” Moyo claims. Turning to why he left BMD for BDP he says he left because there were power struggles within the BMD. “They were in-fightings that were just too deep, so I decided to leave and rather operate as an independent. The BDP and Khama then came to me and pleaded with me to return. Out of courtesy I felt that if I was going to resist, people back home would think there was some sinister motive and so I decided to go back, at least just to finish off my term,” he says. Moyo further claims that at the time there were some who were pretending to be siding with Gomolemo Motswaledi whilst in actual fact they were not.

Explaining why he left BDP chairmanship Moyo says he did not leave, but Khama and his associates arranged a coup against him. “The whole idea was that a motion of no confidence should be moved against me. (Shaw) Kgathi and (Vincent Seretse) VT tipped me to say that the caucus was up to something. The other thing was that the entire central committee was going to resign.” Moyo further claims there were sponsored articles in the media to the effect that he was sponsored by Zanu PF because he wanted presidency. “At that point in time I was doing work in Zimbabwe. They went and closed my accounts. I was put in a corner and so I decided to leave. I phoned Khama and handed in my resignation, I told him he did not have to go that far. I did not leave on my own volition.” Turning to why he left the country back in 2020, Moyo explains that at the time he had received reliable information from his friend, the late Panzirah { Matshome}, that there was “something bad” coming his way. According to Moyo he then made the ‘difficult’ decision to leave the country. Moyo however refuses to mention what exactly bad was coming his way. “One of the few people who were there for me during that time was Khama. Of course I had made my own network throughout the years,” he explains. Moyo tells this publication that whilst in South Africa he joined the BPF. “Before then Khama approached a couple of us to stand as independent candidates, but I proposed instead that we form a party. The process began and the late Panzirah led the formation of the party and the coordination,” he says. Moyo wants to stress that ‘Khama did not form BPF’.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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