With just a few weeks to go before the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) congress scheduled for mid-July, the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) has gained two more councilors from BDP.
Councilors Nunu Lekau and Keitumetse Gabonewe of Gaborone Marulamantsi and Sekgwa Wards, respectively, have confirmed to The Sunday Standard that they had joined the BMD.
Lekau stated that she has given the BDP secretariat her full reasons for defecting to the opposition party. She, however, did not reveal the reasons during the interview.
Lekau said she consulted her ward before joining the opposition party.
“I decided to join BMD after deep thought and I will continue serving my people as a councilor,” said Lekau.
The BDP also lost BDP councilor for Gaborone-Sekgwa Ward, Keitumele Gabonewe, to the BMD. He did not go into details for joining the opposition party.
The BMD Coordinator-National Mobilization, Kabo Morwaeng, confirmed the arrival of the two new members to the BMD. He stated that he would like to urge other remaining councilors to make decisions of joining the BMD. Morwaeng labeled the councilors’ move to the BMD as significant political gains.
He criticized the ruling party, saying that it has failed to deliver for over 40 years.
“We are happy as the BMD leadership and welcome the decisions they have taken to join BMD as they will positively be influential on party matters,” said Morwaeng.
Since last year after the formation of the BMD, several councilors have defected from the ruling party and other opposition parties to join the BMD.
Efforts to get a comment from the ruling party hit a snag, as BDP Executive Secretary Dr. Batlang Serema was not available to shed any light on the matter.
This year, the BDP annual congress is scheduled for July in Mahalapye.
Last week, two other BDP councilors Oabile Mafunga and Marx Bobi defected to BMD.
