'Unshaken’ Butale’s nine lives
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday June 13, 2023 06:00
The way Butale falls and dusts himself off again is something of a marvel as he has become the party’s comeback kid in the many ways he overcomes bad publicity and rebounds to victory.
But in all the rebounds Butale, a lawyer by profession, has followed one functional template which is the courts of law. Butale’s latest win saw him return to the helm of BPF after four days on the sidelines.
He was suspended by the BPF National Executive Committee (NEC) for 90 days on Monday. On Wednesday he filed an urgent application before the Lobatse High Court where he sought orders amongst others that his suspension on June 5 be stayed pending the determination of the application.
In the end, Butale prevailed when Lobatse High Court judge, Michael Motlhabi on late Friday issued a rule nisi ordering that his suspension letter be stayed pending the determination of the application.
The order also interdicted and restrained vice president, Mephato Reatile, or any BPF NEC member from taking any act purporting to implement any resolution made in the NEC meeting said to have been held on June 5.
Now the respondents, who include Reatile and some members of the BPF, amongst them BPF patron Ian Khama, will on June 30 show cause why the orders should not be made final and absolute. Butale’s pyrrhic victory on Friday is his third comeback and some say he has been nothing if not persistent. Speaking of persistence, Butale who continues to find a way to occupy headlines was in 2021 embroiled in a scandalous controversy when a recording emerged that he allegedly sexually abused a young female party colleague. Soon after the allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled against him, he was suspended from the presidency of the BPF.
A year later Butale was pardoned by the party’s Disciplinary Committee (DC) to return as an ordinary member, not as president. But he couldn’t wait and started claiming to have assumed his presidential duties just a week after he was pardoned. Eventually, he took back his presidency but not without a few bruises as he suffered a huge blow in his tracks to return to the helm of the party. He lost one court battle against then-acting president Caroline Lesang. Lobatse High Court's Justice Matlhogonolo Phuthego ruled in favour of Lesang in a case in which she was challenging Butale’s claim to the presidency after his pardon.
Fast forward to this year, Biggie Butale “made a mere threat in the heat of the moment” that he had resigned from the party in the NEC meeting of March 20. After suspending some members of the NEC, the latter indicated they didn’t recognise Butale’s suspension because he was no longer president and had resigned. He was forced to rush to the courts to legitimise his presidency. Butale, whose comebacks somewhat embody the mythical nature of the legendary phoenix, was victorious in April when he successfully defended his presidential position. One battle lies ahead as the court will now determine the outcome of the latest application on June 30.
With one victory after another, it seems Butale has the nine lives of a cat, something which reportedly worries some tactless kingmakers within the BPF. For now, the only way to remove Butale is through an elective congress. Some members within the BPF, who are frustrated by Butale’s unrelenting demeanour, now contemplate leaving the former Tati West legislator with the BPF shell. Butale has lost the support of party allies ranging from current Members of Parliament to members of the NEC but he is still marching on.