BDP’s plan to push Balopi out flops
As 2018 Bulela- Ditswe mess returns to haunt the party
Balopi as Secretary General unaware of audit/ investigations progress Says if there are plans to purge his associates and isolate him it would be unfortunate and foreign to the BDP
An attempt by some senior members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP) to purge embattled Secretary General Mpho Balopi using the 2018 BulelaDitswe mess has been discarded as it was feared it would throw the entire party under the bus.
The broken- down relationship between Balopi and President Mokgweetsi Masisi and some within the Central Committee has raised tensions within the party. While the party has downplayed the rift, things are said to have now reached a boiling point.
Balopi’s detractors are allegeldy devising plans to dislodge and isolate him with the aim of eventually unseating him from the party secretariat.
Insiders say that after no fault was found against him to warrant his suspension ahead of the party elective congress, it was suggested that the Bulela- Ditswe mayhem of 2018 be solely blamed on him as head of the secretariat. So far, the party leadership is said to have made headway in purging those associated with Balopi.
In 2018 the BDP postponed its primaries in 40 constituencies on claims that its electoral system was hacked. A probe followed and the primaries were then held on the 25th of August following a resolution taken during the Palapye Retreat that same month. The party then conducted an audit investigation of the controversy- marred primaries led by Dr. Alfred Tsheboeng.
Dr. Tsheboeng was recently appointed the party’s National Strategy Team Chairman replacing Dr. Comma Serema who has since been appointed Botswana Ambassador to Namibia.
The fear, according to BDP insiders is that should the 2018 Bulela- Ditswe mess be pinned on Balopi, this would open a can of worms as the entire process will implicate the party top leadership, the Electoral Board led by former cabinet member Peter Siele and the Political Education and Elections Committee which was led by the late Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri as chairman and current Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Kabo Morwaeng as the Committee Secretary.
Botswana Guardian investigations have established that despite the probe into the primaries not much progress has been done. Investigations reveal that even those who had complained about the outcome of the primaries have not been contacted or interviewed as part of the audit investigations.
It has been established that there was manipulation of the party electoral system coupled with an orchestrated hit- list of people that were targeted to lose the primaries.
This, according to insiders, was done secretly using employees at Tsholetsa House especially in the election department. To cover their tracks, key players are said to have caused for the suspension and subsequent sacking of some of the employees who raised alarm.
It is alleged that most of the people who won the primaries did not win on merit but through underhand tactics in which some of the voters were blacklisted and removed from the voters’ roll. The issue of the primaries is said to have now become a hot potato which the party leadership would not want to address. Tensions are now high within the party when most of the people who could be giving account of what transpired during the controversial primaries are no longer employed by the party. These are said to have been the people who were used to secretly capture names of voters and release and receive registration books under the cover of darkness which is said to have also affected the party’s books of accounts as books that were released returned through the back door and were not paid for. Contacted for comment Balopi said he is not aware of the progress regarding the audit investigations. On claims that the investigation is failing to make progress, he added, “As mentioned I cannot comment on issues related to the Audit/ investigation”. On plans to blame the 2018 Bulela- Ditswe mess on him, Balopi retorted, “Is it? I am not aware”.
However, he explained that the BDP’s primary elections are not a matter of Tsholetsa House or the SG. Instead, the BDP Headquarters only plays a facilitation role. It facilitates all structures that are involved in the Bulela Ditswe process.
“For example, registration is coordinated at cell, ward and branch level. The membership registration and distribution of membership cards is the responsibility of the branch, led by the Branch Secretary.
“Submission of potential candidates and preliminary vetting are done at branch level and the final vetting is done by the Central committee, collectively,” Balopi said in an interview with Botswana Guardian.
Balopi who is also Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development and MP for Gaborone North added that the Verification of Voters’ Roll is supervised by Political Education and Election Committee ( PEEC) together with the Electoral Board ( EB) who are the custodians of the entire electoral process, which ultimately ushers in candidates for the election. The Secretary General said he is not aware of plans within the party to purge those close to him or associated with him. “If there are plans to do that, it will be very unfortunate as this will be violating BDP’s tried and tested democratic ideals, its value system and principles. This will be very foreign to the BDP,” Balopi explained.
Dr. Tsheboeng who led the audit investigations of the primaries declined to comment and referred inquiries to Communications. For his part, the BDP Communications and International Relations Chairman, Kagelelo Kentse, the audit is essentially done and those assigned have reported back to the president.