As the BDP Homers keep singing Khama’s praises to woe audiences, the former party leader himself has indicated that he doesn’t want the bloody stain on his new apolitical and Ntlo Ya Dikgosi shirt. Survivors of BDP’s unprecedented crash at the polls last October have indicated that Khama’s name is like haemoglobin in the red blood cells and no amount of bleach can remove it. Whilst whitening his name from the party that was founded by his father the late Sir Seretse Khama seems impossible, Khama in a press briefing this weekend said that people who are campaigning for positions at the BDP congress in May should stop talking about him. “They shouldn’t campaign using my name. They want to use me for positions in the central committee. I haven't entered into any discussions or negotiations,” Khama emphasised during the press brief.
This comes after former minister and BDP secretary-general hopeful, Kabo Morwaeng, told the media that Khama could be important in reconciling old BDP members as the party pushes for the forgive-and-forget stage. Morwaeng said his mission in case he wins at the upcoming congress is to bring back former BDP members including Khama. As candidates continue to hold press conferences, the latest to call the media is BDP presidential hopeful Mpho Balopi who yesterday pointed out that Khama is a former BDP leader and was the fourth president therefore he can't just remove the name from his mouth even if he wanted to. “I served under him, I respected him, I served him diligently with the utmost respect. It is a fact that Khama once led the BDP. It is a fact that he is the chief of the Bamangwato tribe and how can I not talk about him,” Balopi said.
He said in life even if a parent figure relocates elsewhere after raising a child, the former can’t ask the latter to erase that history. Balopi says he doesn’t just shout Khama’s name out of nowhere but uses the former president’s name within context. “I am going to continue using Khama’s name,” he emphasised.
