BCP KGATLENG EAST DEFIES PARTY ORDER

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Kgatleng East constituency has rejected the central committee’s order to call for the re-nomination of the party’s national positions.

The Kgatleng East constituency was supposed to nominate their candidates on Friday as per the instruction of the central committee. The central committee had ordered the constituency to hold fresh nominations, arguing the initial meeting failed to form a quorum. But the constituency has reportedly ignored the instruction.

“We have not received any report from Kgatleng. I hope we will get the report on Monday to what could have transpired,” BCP acting secretary-general, Kesitegile Gobotswang said on Saturday.

However, The Monitor has learnt that the constituency committee has written to the acting secretary-general requesting that he provides them with a clause in the constitution that gives him the power to nullify the elections and call for re-nomination when nominations are already closed. “We really do not know how this issue will end but the elections will be held from July 31 to August 1, 2021.

If the complainant Stephen Makhura has not been nominated by his constituency, he will not be contesting for the position of party chairperson.

The constitution is clear, for one to contest, he or she must be nominated by the constituency that he/she falls under. I understand the party central committee might call Kgatleng East constituency to a meeting concerning the matter,” the source said. The nominations of central committee positions are supposed to be held 30 days before the party conference. This came after Makhura, who is contesting for the chairperson position, wrote to the party central committee that the nominations in the Kgatleng East constituency were not held procedurally as the congress did not form a quorum. He wants the party to nullify the nominations. If he succeeds in overturning the decision, Makhura will contest against Samuel Rantuana. “The overarching principle is that the quorum for all meetings of the party is by simple majority. This is captured under 41.2 of the constitution for all meetings and 2.5.6 for constituency meetings. Any meeting that fails to meet the quorum is unconstitutional and therefore null and void. Obviously, the meeting under scrutiny was unconstitutional because it did not quorate.

We have therefore advised for corrective measures to ensure that the process is fair and just,” Gobotswang said in a recent interview. Gobotswang wrote to the constituency committee on July 20, 2021, saying the nomination process was flawed.

“Based on the above finding we concluded that the meeting held on June 29, 2021, was not properly constituted on account of failure to meet the quorum. The outcome of the said meeting is nullified.

You are therefore directed to convene a constituency conference that complies with constitutional requirements and elections regulations by July 23, 2021, to nominate candidates for central committee positions.”