BCP at war with Moswaane, BPP
The 2019 Botswana Peoples’ Party ( BPP) parliamentary candidate for the Tati East constituenc y, Mothodi Modisapudi, who resigned from the party early this week, has dismissed the BPP as a party in turmoil.
The BPP is an affiliate of the Umbrella for Democrat i c Change (UDC).
“It is true that I am no longer a member of the Botswana Peoples’ Party. I have resigned from the party,” said Modisapudi who had joined the BPP in 2018 from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) following a tiff with the area Member of Parliament (MP) whom she accused of being divisive. At the time, she was a specially elected councillor having been appointed after the 2014 general elections. Speaking in an interview about her stay in the BPP, she said, “There is no peace in the BPP. This is a party where the party leader Motlatsi Molapise and his deputy, Mbaakanyi Lenyatso are not in talking terms as we speak,” said Modisapudi, who accused Molapise of intolerance.
“I contested the 2019 general elections despite my suspension because of intervention by Duma Boko. He is the one who saved me because the BPP leadership wanted to replace me with somebody else after the suspension but Boko felt it was too late to be making changes as the elections were only a couple of months away,” said Modisapudi, who had become the president of the BPP Women’s Wing. “I did not agree with the basis of my suspension from the party,” she noted. Modisapudi was suspended from the BPP on accusations that she had colluded with the UDC president, Boko and BCP activists in the Tati East constituency to give more wards to the BCP.
Following the allocation of wards in the constituency, the BCP had complained as they were not happy about the number of wards allocated to them in the constituency. The BPP leadership had told her that no further allocations should be made to the BCP. After Boko’s visit to the constituency, alongside representatives from the BPP and BCP, some of the wards were re-allocated behind the back of the party leadership. “There was no way we were going to side-line our partners, particularly the BCP which has a large presence in the constituency. We had to give them some of the wards,” she explained, adding that , before rejoining the BDP she had considered joining the BCP and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF). “Because they are possibly joining the UDC, I was going to be working with the BPP again,” she added. Both the AP and BPF have written to the UDC proposing cooperation talks between the three. Beyond being a card carrying member of the BDP, she has got no intention of becoming active in politics, let alone contesting any elections in future. “I am going to focus on my business,” she said. Contacted for comment, Molapise defended her party. “Modisapudi has been suspended from the party twice in the two years that she has been with us as a member. The only contribution she made to the party is controversy. She is a controversial person but let her go in peace,” said the BPP leader, Motlatsi Molapise.