Palapye hoodoo haunts BDP

And across the political divide, Palapye has a sad history associated with the major break up of the Botswana National Front (BNF) that birthed the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in 1998 just ahead of the 1999 General Election. Just recently, history repeated itself in Palapye when the BCP, then a committed affiliate of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) meeting culminated with the BCP opting out of the coalition arrangement citing governance issues.

For the BDP, it was the year 2001, and there was emerging pressure for a lobby for former president Ian Khama to challenge the then party strongman and Barata-Phathi faction leader, Ponatshego Kedikilwe for the position of the party Chairman. Khama was then still considered a fresher and a newbie to challenge Kedikilwe, popularly known as PHK. There was tension throughout the national congress, which sparked controversy and threatened to shake the BDP as an entity at the time with Khama’s supporters pushing for their choice. Will the Palapye BDP hoodoo repeat itself as a manageable issue sets the BDP asunder ahead of next year’s polls?