Peace eludes BPF
Peace continues to elude the beleaguered Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) as preparations for its Extraordinary and Annual Conferences both scheduled for December this year are ongoing.
The two party factions, one led by Moiseraele Goya and the other by Samson Guma respectively, have been at each other’s throat for some time now. Goya and Guma are contesting the position of president of the party. Following the removal of Biggie Butale, who is the founding president of the BPF, Caroline Lesang held the fort pending an elective congress which was expected to happen this year. However, the two factions could not agree on the date of the elective congress with the Goya-faction demanding a postponement of the congress, while the Guma faction insisted that it be held this year. Eventually, a compromise was reached and the elective congress was postponed to next year. Instead, it was agreed that there will be an Extraordinary Congress on the morning of December 3rd and the annual congress on the afternoon of the same day in Gaborone. Meanwhile, BPF went on to collectively constitute a peace and reconciliation committee with members from each of the warring parties. The escalation of hostilities has given birth to a group calling itself the Concerned Group. They are unhappy with the idea of hosting the two events on the same day because, according to them, time will not allow them to do justice to the respective agendas. A member of the Concerned Group told The Midweek Sun that he has no confidence in the NEC. “These people are preaching one thing while doing something else. The constitution is clear. They are very dishonest. “According to the party constitution, an extraordinary congress can only be convened by constituencies and not NEC. This is a ploy for the unconstitutional gathering they call an extraordinary conference to endorse them,” said a member of the Concerned Group preferring to remain anonymous. “Among our demands is that NEC should postpone the Extraordinary Congress and go ahead with the annual conference. We also demand that Butale and all those suspended by this committee should be reinstated unconditionally and with immediate effect,“he said, noting that should the NEC ignore the demands, his group will boycott the extraordinary congress. “Should they ignore us, we will toyi-toyi and hold a rally to show them that they are leaving the people behind,” said the party activist, who however added that he and his group have vowed not to leave the BPF regardless of the disagreements. Neither the party spokesperson, Lawrence Ookeditse nor the party president, Caroline Lesang were available for comment at press time.