A confidential letter that has been handed to President Ian Khama names Member of Parliament for Tati East, Simon Guma Moyo, and the ruling party National Treasurer, Satar Dada, as chief sponsors of an alleged behind the scenes campaign to thwart Khama’s plan to appoint a Vice President of his choice after the General Elections.
Both Dada and Moyo are among the ruling party’s most successful businessmen.
The two are also believed to be close and sympathetic to a BDP faction that is led by Daniel Kwelagobe and Ponatshego Kedikilwe.
President Ian Khama, himself believed to be aligned to an opposing BDP faction, has already indicated that after the General Election, due in October, he would want to drop current Vice President Mompati Merafhe and replace him with a successor.
BDP insiders believe Minister of Defence, Ndelu Seretse, a close cousin and associate to the President, is a front runner in the likely contest for the position of Vice President.
Sunday Standard can reveal that an unsigned letter of which President Khama is in possession goes in detail to narrate how Moyo and Dada are allegedly financing the behind the scenes campaign to scuttle the President’s choice in favour of the Minister of Minerals, Ponatshego Kedikilwe.
In an interview with Sunday Standard Moyo confirmed that he has been called to the Office of the President to explain his case about the letter.
While he has seen the letter, he said he knows nothing about the contents of the letter, or who the author could be.
Moyo, who is standing for the BDP Central Committee elections at next month’s Congress under the ticket of the Kwelagobe/Kedikilwe faction, said he was taken aback by the letter because he has never had any ambition to thwart the President’s choice of Vice President.
He said he believed in the processes and procedures put in place to elect a Vice President.
“This is all crazy. The Vice President will be elected by Parliament and there is no way one or two people can stop that process,” Moyo told the Sunday Standard.
With the Central Committee elections due in less than a month, the two BDP factions fighting for control of both the party and government have recently gone for broke, with each going full throttle to position itself as to be able to successfully dictate who will become Khama’s Vice President.
With Khama unchallenged for the position of President, it is almost a given that whoever becomes a Vice President will in future become President under the automatic succession arrangement.
Moyo said “as always” there are people inside the BDP who are out to destroy him.
“I have never seen such stupidity. One thing that amazes me is just how such an unsigned and unsubstantiated letter can reach the Office of the President,” Moyo said, adding that other than that there is a deliberate move to destroy “some of us”.
Moyo said he had had doubts if indeed the author of the letter was unknown to the Office of the President.
“As long as the letter is kept safely at the Office of the President and the rumour is keenly circulated around then we have reasons to assume the author of the letter is known,” he said.
He said it’s possible the author is being protected because he or she will have to face and answer difficult questions if their identity is revealed.
“But in the end I have nothing to apologise for. In fact, I feel very strongly that somebody owes me an apology,” Moyo said unrepentantly.
