Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Chengeta sings the blues as he resigns his BPP position

(Francistown)- Botswana Peoples Party youth wing President has tendered his resignation.

Hloniphani Chengeta’s resignation comes barely three months after he was elected into the position.
Immediately upon taking office, Chengeta waged a scathing attack against the Botswana National Front’s Otsweletse Moupo.

This did not go down well with some of his colleagues in the BPP as the BNF was part of the ongoing fragile opposition unity talks.

Again, after President Festus Mogae summoned the opposition parties to brief them on the relocation of Basarwa from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve BPP President, Bernard Balikani, issued a statement to the effect that, though they did not support the relocation of Basarwa, the BPP did not support the utterances of Survival International and the danger it posed to Botswana’s economy.

In his typical abrasive manner, Chengeta shot down his senior counterpart, saying that his statement did not reflect the opinion of the masses in the BPP.
This was a serious affront to the party presidency, especially coming from a junior member.

His stance did not endear Chengeta to many within the party.
He even confirmed that he was aware he had created many enemies in the party leadership, as he was considered to be arrogant.

On Thursday, the party leadership summoned Chengeta to a disciplinary hearing to come and answer charges of indiscipline.

He did not attend the meeting.
”I chose not to attend that meeting because I had already decided to resign from the party,” he later told Sunday Standard.

He said he decided to resign because he felt he was not wanted in the party.

“Even people within my committee had been turned against me,” he said. He, however, said he leaves a sad man because he has not been able to implement his projects.

The Committee he is leaving behind will not achieve much because it is made up of yes men, he said “The youth league consists of people who are not pro-active and do not have the party vision at heart.”
He also decried a lack of internal debate within the BPP.

Chengeta nullified any chances of the BPP progressing and growing to the caliber of opposition giants like BCP and BNF because they curtail freedom of expression, which helps to develop the party membership and publicizes the party.

“They will always remain political minnows who are overshadowed by other parties because they choose to be underdogs who are neither seen nor heard,” he charged.

Although he said he will remain an ordinary member of BPP, there is rising speculation that he could be on his way to joining the BCP. Meanwhile, the BPP Publicity Secretary, Chapter Mafa, rubbished Chengeta’s claims that he was resigning because he felt unwanted in the party.

Mafa said, over and above his utterances, there were other charges facing Chengeta within the BPP.

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