Cold war in the BNF?
TSHIRELETSO MOTLOGELWA
Staff Writer
| Friday January 25, 2008 00:00
Many within the party believe that although things look normal on the surface, the war is being fought behind the scenes. They say the rivalry might reach the boil again during the primary elections.
Last week the BNF Elections' Board resigned en masse leaving the Central Committee with the onerous task of choosing a new board a few weeks before the start of primary elections. This, according to sources, caused consternation within the party, with one faction accusing the other of trying to cheat its way to victory at the primary elections. 'We will see a lot of unrest following the primary elections because some candidates from the Letshabo camp have lost faith in the new elections board even before it is chosen given the reasons forwarded by the outgoing board,' said another source. Information reaching Mmegi indicates that a few days ago, the party's Youth League held a closed-door meeting with members of the Central Committee to urge them, among them other things, to bring peace to the party but to no avail. The party's executive committee is said to have dismissed the Youth League's advice.
'The league attempted to make them realise that the party cannot contest the forthcoming general elections in this shape but the committee members felt that they had made all efforts to bring the two camps together without success. They said they are now no longer interested,' said a source. However, the cold war continues within the party although the official position is that everything is normal.
The Central Committee is said to have reassured the Youth League that they are ready to work with members of the party who want to cooperate with them. However some members of the executive committee are said to have expressed worry at what they see as lack of interest by the vanquished camp loyal to Dr Kathleen Letshabo. The camp accuses their rivals from the group led by BNF president Otsweletse Moupo of working, through proxies to have its favoured candidates win the forthcoming primaries so as to consolidate its power across the party. Media reports have frequently said the Moupo camp is out to make sure that MPs Nehemiah Modubule and Akanyang Magama are ousted at the primaries.
'It is not working directly to do this but supporters of Moupo would coincidentally turn out to be the ones who oppose a candidate who happened to have been on the Letshabo side during the Molepolole Congress. And in another area, the same people who were on Letshabo side would turn out to be the ones opposing a candidate who was on the Moupo side. In other words, those animosities still exist although on the surface it looks normal. But of course the Central Committee is having the upper hand in these running battles,' said a source. Moupo is said to have complained at a recent meeting that his opponent at the Molepolole Congress Letshabo was campaigning for his challengers at the forthcoming primaries Maemo Bantsi in Gaborone West North. He reportedly said this shows that the Letshabo camp is after him.
Letshabo said that she is merely exercising her democratic right to support a particular candidate in the party while Moupo is reading this as a way to continue the war from Molepolole.
Meanwhile Letshabo has indicated that she is still active in the party though she has been hampered by her frequent international trips.
Attempts to reach Moupo were fruitless as his phone was off. Party secretary Mohammed Khan declined to comment, referring Mmegi to BNF spokesman Moeti Mohwasa who would neither confirm nor deny a meeting between the Central Committee and the Youth League. 'We always meet with the Youth League to discuss any matters arising. But I cannot tell you about the content of our discussions,' he said.