There has been a media statement, which carries unfounded allegations about the BNF congress preparations authored by one Kaboyaone Sedimo, which purports to represent Team Molatlhegi lobby team and this statement has been widely published in Mmegi, The Voice (17/06/2022) and Weekend Post (18-24 June 2022) and the same was equally splashed across the social media platforms.
While the BNF respects all comrades vying for the different elective positions, the party will not allow itself to be held at ransom by some of its cadres. It is not in the respectable tradition of the BNF to allow its members, including comrades vying for political office to be running to the media and, worse, spreading untruths and making unsubstantiated allegations about the party.
The lie that has been peddled and rehearsed many times over that there was printing of membership cards and capturing of new membership forms at the BNF offices on the night of 21stApril 2022 has proven to be untrue by the investigation team.
The issue of workers being at the office on that fateful night was also discussed in the presence of presidential candidate Cde Baatlhodi Molatlhegi and this too was proven to be yet another red herring.
The complainants had the opportunity to ask the employees all questions and answers were proffered then. The investigation revealed that workers were only printing their T-shirts, which were found displayed in the same office.
According to the investigation team there was no iota of evidence to suggest that the party database system had been breached on that fateful night. It is curious why comrades are hell-bent on pursuing their wanton agenda of maligning and smearing the party with their unjustified diatribe at a time when the party is confronted with other vicious elements of the people’s project.
We need to make this clear; the BNF has no wards nor constituency committees in Bobonong, suffice to add that it would be wrong for members to be recruited today and be expected to vote tomorrow as the party is seemingly coerced to do by comrades. If we were to take this perilous path, we will merely precipitate organisational anarchy. New membership forms are submitted by constituency secretaries and signed accordingly and that is party procedure. It should be appreciated that the inclusion of new members into the database was stopped by the central committee after Team Bucs complained. In terms of that responsive cut-off point set by the central committee, new members will only be re-captured into the congress. The ward membership rolls are available at BNF offices for inspection at nominal fee.
At the moment the delegates list is not available yet as the election process is on-going.
The suggestion that some people are denied access to BNF structures is pitiably false. We have all seen during this on-going campaigns how Cde Molatlhegi and his lobby have been able to access constituency and regional structures and addressing them. The suggestion that the BNF should create a parallel structure to run BNF elections is laughable and would make a mockery of the party constitution.
The BNF constitution provides for a national elections board and this is a body that oversees the elections and the party cannot have another parallel structure. The BNF will definitely emerge more united and bigger from this legitimate and credible congress. BNF Unity Now, and UDC Victoy in 2024. Kopano ke maatla!
*Justin Hunyepa is BNF information & publicity secretary
