The motion, which took barely two weeks, did not see the light of day, as is the norm with the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to oppose motions tabled by opposition parties. Last week, Vice-President Mompati Merafhe joked about Mabiletsa's motion, asking amid laughter in the house, "Haven't you killed this motion yet?"
Responding, Mabiletsa said the VP unequivocally opposed the motion in the usual style of denial and hate speech against opposition to motions moved by opposition parties. However, the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi asked him to withdraw those words which she said did not portray BDP in a good light.
According to Mabiletsa, Merafhe seems to have no understanding of what a public broadcaster is about. He said he appeared not to have bothered to inform himself about what the motion was seeking to achieve. "He misrepresents the motion as seeking to privatise state media when the motion clearly talked about converting Btv and Radio Botswana into a public broadcaster under the guidance and direction of public broadcasting board, as is the case with other parastatals, which are not privatised," the legislator said.
