Opposition parties will send us into exile � Khama
Gasebalwe Seretse | Tuesday September 16, 2014 16:15
Speaking at Sefhare-Ramokgonami’s parliamentary candidate, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu’s star rally in the village of Tumasera, Khama, who is also the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) president said that members of opposition parties did not like peace and thrived in chaos.
“If you vote these people into power, we are going to end up as refugees.
“They don’t like peace and they are fond of splitting the nation,” he said, adding that opposition parties were made up of people who did not respect others.
He said that should Batswana vote opposition parties, they would promote political intolerance and that they were not going to allow members of other parties to attend their rallies.
He said opposition parties liked spreading untruths about him and his party.
“Do you want ministers and presidents who insult people? Do you want a government that has no respect and insults people?” Khama asked his audience who responded with a resounding ‘No!’.
Khama particularly took a swipe at the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which has a strong presence in the Sefhare-Ramokgonami constituency saying it promoted tribalism among Batswana.
He said although the BCP party president, Dumelang Saleshando was originally from the Okavango area, he expected people from Gaborone to vote for him and yet when the same thing happened elsewhere, he opposed it. He said Batswana had realised that opposition parties were useless and hence were leaving them in drove.
Khama paraded 87 people whom he said have left opposition parties to join the BDP.
“If you vote opposition parties into power, they are going to stop our programmes and this will leave you poor,” he said.
For her part, Makgato-Malesu, who is also the Minister of Trade and Industry, assured her followers that she was not threatened by the presence of opposition in her constituency. “Our opponents say that we have invited the president here a number of times because we are panicking.
“Do we really look like we are panicking? What I can assure you is that come elections day, we are going to take non-existent opposition parties out of the game,” she said.
In the last general elections, the outgoing Sefhare- Ramokgonami MP, Molebatsi of the BDP garnered 5,183 votes closely followed by Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang of the BCP with 4,175 votes.