BCP, BNF conflict: BPP on the fence
• Molapise condemns BCP/BNF tussles • We will not support a fragmented UDC-BPF • AP plays wait-and see game
FRANCISTOWN: The Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) is at a fork in the road regarding who it should support in the long simmering conflict between other Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) contracting parties, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana National Front (BNF), in the looming Bophirima ward by-election.
Both the BCP and the BNF claim that they have a right to field a candidate at Bophirima ward. The president of BPP, Motlatsi Molapise encourages other partners of the UDC and not necessarily the BCP and BNF to always try by all means to exhaust internal remedies and not wash their dirty linen in public whenever they have disagreements in the coalition.
“If there are inter-party disagreements between the contracting parties of the UDC, the concerned parties should try by all means to resolve them at the national executive committee (NEC) of the UDC. We condemn in the strongest possible terms whenever issues concerning the UDC are discussed in the public at the exclusion of fully utilising internal channels that are available within the coalition. The BPP has thus adopted a neutral stance in the current conflict between the BCP and the BNF that arose from fielding a candidate who will represent the UDC in Bophirima ward in the Gaborone Bonnington South constituency,” a concerned Molapise said.
Asked to clarify who the BPP will offer support to between the BCP and BNF candidates at Bophirima ward in the upcoming by-election in the event that the issue is not resolved before the day of filing nominations papers, Molapise said his party will support any candidate who will be fielded by the UDC.
“The position of the BPP regarding the issue is that it will support any candidate who will represent the UDC during the by-election. We will not lend our support to any candidate who will be fielded by any affiliate of the UDC at the expense of the candidate who will represent the UDC,” he explained. Molapise would, however, not offer a direct response when asked if there have been any official consultations on determining a UDC candidate for the by-election. The BPP Youth League is on record saying it will support the BNF’s Mankie Sekete as the UDC candidate. This week, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) spokesperson, Lawrence Ookeditse emphasised that the crucial indicator of whether the opposition will succeed at Bophirima ward is unity. The UDC has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the by-elections with the AP and BPF. Under the MoU, the UDC, AP and BPF therefore, made a commitment that between the years 2020 and the next general election for 2024, where a by-election (may it be local or parliamentary) is to be held, the contracting parties shall not contest against each other.
The determination as to which of the contracting parties contests any by-election shall be based on the following: in the order in which they appear: (i) whether the contracting party had won the said vacant seat in the 2019 general election or nay subsequent election thereto, (ii) whether the contracting party had attained 75% or more of the number of votes attained by the winning candidates in the vacant position who had represented a political party that is not a signatory to this agreement, and where one of the contracting parties has obtained this threshold. The UDC was the best performing party in Bophirima ward. Ookeditse pointed out that unity can help the opposition to join forces coherently. He explained that the BPF will not get involved in the squabbles between the BNF and the BCP.
“We are cognisant that we have an MoU with the UDC on the by-election. The BPF will be neutral in this whole thing. We are going to be working according to the MoU until further notice,” said Ookeditse. The BPF spokesperson stated that the party is waiting for the UDC to communicate ‘formally and officially’ the name of the candidate for Bophirima ward. But he warned that in the event that BCP and BNF field their own candidates, there is a chance that the BPF might not support anyone.
“That is a decision that the NEC should take but already we have said we are going to be neutral. What we want to see is a united opposition,” he added.
AP secretary-general, Phenyo Butale said he remains very optimistic that parties in the UDC will engage in renewed dialogue with a view of reaching a consensus on the candidate for the by-election.