Former Member of Parliament for Molepolole South, Dr Tlamelo Mmatli and retired Botswana Defence Force (BDF) commander, Lieutenant General Gaolathe Galebotswe officially joined Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) amongst others.
BPF president Mephato Reatile officially welcomed the new members on Tuesday in a media briefing. Besides Mmatli and Galebotswe, other members who officially joined the opposition outfit include Gilbert Watshipi, Bright Moagi Molebatsi, former chairperson of Kgatleng District Council (KDC) Tona Mooketsi, Naledi Monnakgosi, and Donald Seleke.
Speaking on behalf of the recruits Mmatli said they decided to defect after a lot of consideration.
“We gave our former leaders a chance to listen to our concerns and we gave them time to do consider our requests. But as people during talks and conflicts in the end we take a decision which is in the best interest of Batswana,” he said. Mmatli said they are not fighting as opposition politicians and that opposition parties are not enemies. He said defecting is not a new and surprising move. Mmatli said even though the elections were near it was never too late to join the BPF.
Mmatli joins the BPF from Botswana National Front (BNF) where he was involved in the fight for Umbrella for Democratic Change’s Member of Parliament (MP) candidacy for Molepolole South. Mmatli was contesting UDC’s decision (UDC) to allocate the constituency to Alliance for Progressives' (AP) Shima Monageng. AP’s decision to join the opposition coalition last year changed everything leaving the constituency in AP’s hands. Both Mmatli and Monageng lost to incumbent area legislator, Kabo Morwaeng, of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) who won convincingly by garnering 10,228 votes in 2019.
Mmatli, who then represented the UDC, came second with 2,733 votes while Monageng managed only 1,471 votes. According to Mmatli, Monageng had not been active in the area until last year when he heard that AP and UDC would be cooperating. Before he left the UDC, Mmatli was calling for primary elections to be held in the Molepolole South constituency for members to choose their preferred candidate.
Galebotswe on the other side is a retired BDF commander who retired after serving 32 years in the military in 2016. Galebotswe took over from General Tebogo Masire in 2012 and is the second former army commander after Ian Khama to join the opposition. He is also amongst the leading army veterans who are suing the government for transferring their pension to the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) without their consent. Government has begun crediting the accounts of retired BDF soldiers and their beneficiaries, but Galebotswe and company have confirmed that they are still going ahead with the court case because other issues have not yet been resolved.
