AP/BDP IN EARLY SHOWDOWN
Ousted WDC Chair cries political interference
IN what could be a dress rehearsal for the 2024 general elections battle between Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the Francistown South constituency, a ward development committee chairperson has been unceremoniously dislodged from his position.
Somerset Extension WDC Chairperson, Simisani Ramaotwana’s membership was terminated with immediate effect on March 15th by the office of the town clerk.
In the termination letter, Ramaotwana of the AP is accused of misconduct by using the name of WDC to advance his personal interests.
According to the letter, Ramaotwana’s actions, though not stated, contravene Regulation 9 of the Local Government, which gives council power to remove a member from office if seen to be in contravention of the regulations to the detriment of the objectives of the committee.
The ousted chair, who vowed to appeal the decision, told The Voice that he’s convinced that area Councillor, Thato Tselawa, of the BDP is behind his sacking. Tselawa is the only BDP councillor in a constituency with four council wards. The rest of the wards are under AP, led by the Member of Parliament and party Vice President, Wynter Mmolotsi.
“The councillor sees politics in everything I do. If I lend the committee a computer or chairs to help with our day to day running of the office, he complains,” charged Ramaotwana.
The former chair said he’s not happy with the process used to terminate his membership as he was never called for a hearing, while some members of his committee were never called to give evidence.
The committee vice chairperson told The Voice in a brief interview that he still does not know what the chairperson is being accused of.
“We just saw the termination letter, we have no idea what he’s done,” said the committee vice chair
Reached for comment, Councilor Tselawa said the right people to address the matter would be the council.
“I’m an overseer of the ward, and I’m still waiting for the town clerk to come to the ward and address the community, and explain to them why such a decision was taken,” Tselawa said.
Meanwhile, Francistown
South MP, Wynter Mmolotsi, said he has talked to the deputy town clerk about the matter.
“I asked him to investigate and get back to me because it appears the process used to remove him is flawed. It’s an issue that we’ve been made aware of, and we’re dealing with it, and hope it’ll be resolved,” Mmolotsi said.