BMD hit by mass exodus
Chakalisa Dube | Wednesday October 9, 2013 10:11
Raoboy Mpuang, Monarch East councillor, and specially nominated councillor and deputy mayor of Francistown, Joyce Ndove, resigned on Sunday and Monday respectively. And rumour has it that two more councilors from the embattled party may soon follow suit.
In 2010, the two councillors ditched the ruling party along with other high ranking BDP members to form the BMD. Mpuang confirmed on Sunday that he has severed ties with the BMD while Ndove confirmed her exit the following morning.
'There is nothing wrong with the BMD. I just ditched the party because of the influence of my family. My immediate family members are staunch members of the ruling party and they did not approve of my membership of the BMD.
They are the ones who convinced me to re-join the ruling party,' Mpuang told Mmegi on Sunday morning. The youthful politician further revealed that he would not contest the 2014 general elections.
However sources close to Mpuang disclosed that the politician has dumped the party because the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) would not grant him his wish to contest the Francistown West by-election, on the basis that the constituency was not allocated to his party. The constituency belongs to the Botswana People's Party (BPP), which has partnered with the BMD and the Botswana National Front (BNF) to form the UDC.
Ndove, on the other hand, stated that her working relationship with other BMD councillors in the city has reached an all-time low.
'The BMD councillors here were not supportive of me in my role as the deputy mayor. At times they did not offer me protection when I needed them most hence after much thought I decided to re-join the BDP,' she said.
Mpuang, who until his resignation was the BMD Secretary for the Francistown region, has been linked with the BDP for more than a year.
Reports reaching this publication also indicate that Ipopeng ward councillor Steven Michael and Tsamaya councillor Reginald Mudongo is also in the process of dumping the BMD in favour of the ruling party.
In fact, Mudongo re-joined the BDP in September last year before hitting the fastest u-turn ever, hours after being readmitted to the ruling party.
Michael's mobile went on voice mail for the better part of yesterday when Mmegi sought to establish if he was contemplating re-joining the BDP or not.
Mudongo when reached for comment denied allegations that he wanted to re-join the BDP. He reaffirmed his commitment to the BMD.
In less than two months, three opposition councillors here have joined the ruling party. In the middle of September, Government Camp councillor Albert Mosojane dumped the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) for the ruling party.
Ndove and Mpuang take the number of councillors who have joined the ruling party to three.
BDP spokesperson Macdonald Peloetletse confirmed that Ndove and Mpuang have re-joined the ruling party.
'The BDP is proving to be an attractive political organisation based on the number of opposition politicians who have since joined the party of recent,' Peloetletse said yesterday.
BMD Francistown region leader Shadrack Nyeku said he was not aware that the two councillors have re-joined the BDP.
'All I have heard are rumours that the two councillors have left the party. The party has not received official confirmation from the two that they have resigned,' the former mayor said.
Nyeku also refuted allegations by Ndove that BMD councillors were not supportive of her. The recent defections by opposition civic leaders here take the number of BDP councillors to 13. The BCP has six while the BMD has three councillors.