BDP APPOINTS PARTY ACTIVISTS TO LAND BOARD POSITIONS
Masisi has embarked on wealth accumulation at an unprecedented pace - Mohwasa
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has slammed the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) for shamelessly appointing its activists into land board positions across the country.
Majority of the new land board appointees have either held positions under the BDP ticket before or lost elections in 2019.
The Voice has established that the former BDP diehards were appointed to Land Boards Chair and Deputy Chairs, with some being made ordinary members.
Some of the commonly known BDP activists that made it to various land boards include Chairperson at Gantsi Land Board, Greg Losibe.
Losibe lost to the incumbent Member of Parliament for Gantsi North, John Thiite, in the 2018 primary elections. There is also the former North West District Council Chairperson, Tebogo Bethia, who is now Maun Sub Land Board Chairperson; Tshepo Wareus at Kweneng; Lesego Raditanka at Ngwato; Peter Williams at Tonota Sub; Elijah Katse at Tlokweng; Lathang Molonda at Nokaneng Sub; Ace Molelo at Maun Sub, and Frisco Gabokakangwe at Sehithwa Sub Land Board.
The controversial appointments have been described as a ‘shock and an indication of the worst to come.”
UDC Head of Communications, Moeti Mohwasa, said in a statement that the appointments point to the ‘jobs-for-bdp-election-losers pattern’.
“The Chairpersons, Deputy Chairpersons and other Land Board members are largely BDP losers of primary elections and the 2019 General Elections who have been sneaked into government payroll. This is a far cry from fixing the country. It is simply accumulation of wealth and a clear sign of patronage by the BDP ‘Dear Leader’, his family members and associates as well as those members of the BDP loyal to him,” stated Mohwasa.
The UDC mouthpiece pointed out that it was clear that the Mokgweetsi Masisi-led government and the BDP were fixing their bank accounts by lining their pockets with public resources.
“This is the beginning of more to come,” said the UDC statement, which went on to call upon all Batswana from across the political, religious, regional and tribal divide to unite and stop the daylight robbery perpetuated by the Masisi regime. “The nation must stand united against what is the clear plunder of public resources,” the UDC added.
Mohwasa also explained that since Masisi came into power, promising to break away from the past malice and bad practices of the BDP, there has been no delivery.
“He promised the electorate to put clean and corruption-free governance into place and that merit would come before political, regional and tribal considerations with his band of followers chanting, ‘ Re baakanya lehatshe’ (we are fixing the country), but a year on, he stands far from his promises.”
Mohwasa further noted that in fact, Masisi has embarked on wealth accumulation at an unprecedented pace. “Masisi has no shame. Numerous accusations against him and his cohort are on the rise daily. He grabs!” Mohwasa charged.
However, the BDP Spokesperson, Kagelelo Kentse, ignored the accusations and chose to congratulate those appointed. “Firstly, we congratulate those who have been appointed and wish them well. They can only be there if they meet minimum requirements as per the job advert. Land boards are open to all qualifying Batswana regardless of their political affiliations and these lists prove that.” Kentse added that they do believe that those appointed will work around the clock to deal with backlogs that besiege land boards and allocate land to Batswana who desperately await allocations.