BMD Wants UDC Backlove
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday October 19, 2020 15:24
According to the party chairperson, Nehemiah Modubule they remain optimistic that they would become part of the opposition coalition going into the 2024 elections.
Over the weekend, main opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Alliance for Progressives (AP) and Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) announced they would be cooperating in a bid to remove Botswana Democratic Party from power.
The parties are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on by-elections as well as discuss cooperation towards 2024 General Elections.
“We have always been clear that we wish to work with all those who are willing to work with us. We are however still restrained from meeting right now because of COVID-19 regulations. We could have held our congress already which is supposed to give us a mandate on whether to approach the UDC or not,” Modubule said.
He added their party would never make such a huge move to work with other opposition parties.
He said unlike AP and BPF who are only approaching the UDC as new parties, their case was different because they were expelled from the coalition hence the need to fully engage their membership.
Modubule said they never received any invitation from any party for cooperation and are not worried about by-election cooperation, but rather looking at the bigger picture being the 2024 General Election.
BMD, one of the founding partners of UDC alongside Botswana National Front and Botswana People’s Party, were expelled from the coalition in September 2018.
They then moved to take the matter to court where a panel of three judges, Justices Tshepo Motswagole, Tebogo Tau and Keborapele Moesi on August 29, 2019 dismissed the application by the BMD who were challenging their expulsion from the UDC.
The BMD went to elections solo and could only manage one council seat, which they have since lost with the councillor joining the UDC earlier this year. BMD secretary general, Gilbert Mangole has left the party after he was appointed as Botswana High Commissioner to India.