Addressing a political rally here last Saturday, Moupo said that he has recently read shocking media reports alleging that he was planning to oust Magama from the Gaborone South constituency. Moupo, also the Leader of Opposition in Parliament and Gaborone West North MP announced over the weekend: "I have no plans to oust Magama."
He indicated that there were people who were fuelling hatred and divisions within the party by suggesting that some BNF activists, especially those who lost the recent elections at the Molepolole extraordinary congress, were 'blacklisted'.
Moupo said that temporary groupings are allowed in the BNF citing the recent lobby groups that divided the BNF into the pro-Moupo and the pro-Kathleen Letshabo group.
"Let's stop bickering across the camps and chart the way forward as we have serious challenges ahead of us like the 2009 general election and others," he appealed. He was worried that Batswana would lose hope in the BNF if the party's activists continue bickering.
He said that as party leadership, they would continue calling for order. He warned: "If we continue fighting in the newspapers, freedom squares and other fora, the masses will lose hope in us and you can imagine the damage". He announced that the BNF was going to hold the primaries whereupon the people would decide their representatives without the party leadership exerting any influence as to who would contest.
"We should forget about our differences before the congress as nothing was ever meant to be permanent and to distract our focus. As an alternative government, the BNF should work very hard and prepare for just that," urged Moupo.
The next speaker after Moupo was University of Botswana academic and a loser at the Molepolole extra-ordinary congress, Elmon Tafa, the former secretary for political education.
He told the rally that it was wrong for BNF members to say that the recent congress "was meant to punish UB academics". Tafa who seemed totally in control after his faction was humiliated by Moupo's told a cheerful rally that contrary to some reports," the Letshabo lobby group has accepted the congress election results without reservation." Although there were some noted 'mistakes of administration' in the elections, Tafa pointed out that his faction has accepted the results.
He was not prepared to go into detail about the mistakes of administration.
"When I joined the party, I took a life membership for good or for worse. The challenges facing the BNF do not necessarily require one to be in the party leadership. Even outside the leadership we would still add value to the BNF," stressed Tafa.
He took advantage of the rally and announced that he has been approached by some comrades to represent the party in the Francistown South constituency. "Comrades here have asked me to contest in this area," he told the weekend rally.
He stressed that it has never crossed his mind even in his deepest dreams that he could join the BNF offshoot-Botswana Congress Party (BCP).
He condemned his former colleague in the pro-Letshabo group, Joper Osupile for being a hypocrite after his announcement that he was quitting the BNF following his loss.
"Even those who hold a similar view with Osupile should know that the BNF is always there for them even after losing elections." Osupile contested the position of publicity secretary in the BNF.
Tafa said he recently received a message from one of the BCP leaders 'consoling' him after his loss. The message read in part: "Reactionaries have taken over the BNF and my condolences to you." He stressed that the losing faction was not going to boycott the activities of the party.
