Moswaane divides BDP post exit

Fear that his loyalists still remain in the party

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) Member of Parliament (MP), Ignatius Moswaane continues to be a source of discomfort for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the Francistown West constituency more than three (3) months after his exit from the party.

The controversial legislator resigned from the party when he was on suspension pending a disciplinary hearing. A BDP insider told this publication that Moswaane’s suspension and resignation from the BDP has caused enduring and high levels of mistrust within the BDP community in the Francistown West constituency.

“When he left the party, many people followed him after his tour of the constituency when his constituents approved his departure promising to follow him to his next party. However, the party leadership suspects that a number of his supporters still remain in the BDP. This does not sit well with the party leadership in general,” said the source.

According to her, the latest and most vivid illustration of the extent of the mistrust was when some members recently asked for a meeting of the constituency committee.

“The committee has not met for a long time partly because of COVID-19. Not long ago, we had a meeting here with the Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane. He advised that vacant positions in the committee be filled by way of co-opting some members to those posts since it was not possible to hold any congress due to COVID-19,” explained the source.

According to her, the regional leadership is not comfortable with the idea of filling the vacant posts because there is the danger of having Moswaane loyalists in the committee who will then be privy to BDP strategies and plans in the constituency.

However, when contacted for comment, Francistown region chairperson, Mokwaledi Medupe, denied that he ever blocked any meeting.

“There has never been any correspondence notifying us of any meeting by the branch. Talk to the constituency chairperson, Liza Maguswi,” he said.

When pressed to say whether he was aware of requests by individual members of the committee for a meeting, he chided the anonymous sources for talking to the media instead of the party structures.

The constituency secretary Otsile Kuyenda promised to speak to this publication but later declined. Maguswi’s phone was off-air at press-time.