Barely two years after the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership and their campaign operatives thronged Maun to discredit and hurl insults at Batawana Chief, also Maun West MP Tawana Moremi ahead of the 2014 general elections, they say they are now more than ready to go on their knees and beg him to rejoin the BDP stable.
At a BDP rally over the weekend, Councillor Moedi Modiegi pleaded with Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi to do everything in his power to win Tawana back as they will never rest until such happens. He said despite everything else, Moremi is a valuable member, which is therefore enough reason for the party leadership to consider taking him back.
“We desperately want our chief back, and I strongly believe that with your assistance he might withdraw his decision and re-join his party. The sad reality is we all know he is one of us and that he is a must-have. We admit we might have had differences in the past but we now feel ready to iron them out because at the end of it all we are birds of the same feather”, said Modiegi amid ululations of support from the crowd.
While efforts by this publication to get hold of MP Moremi did not succeed, Batawana Senior Chief Representative Kgosi Charles Letsholathebe who also attended the rally has dismissed Moedi’s assertions as wishful thinking. In an interview with The Telegraph, he said they are still awaiting a formal apology from the BDP following the insults and the humiliation that their chief underwent. He noted that there is no way that the BDP can now start speaking in parables while they know what is expected of them, adding that Tawana will never rejoin the BDP and that the BDP will fail dismally in their endeavor to have him back
Also speaking at the rally was the BDP new kid on the block, Okavango MP Bagalatia Arone who was booed by former BCP comrades as he took to the podium. For some time the MP had to wait for the noise to settle before he could deliver his speech. In between his speech, he was forced to respond to the angry crowd who called him names. “Bagalatia you are a traitor, a manipulator and you have failed to stand your ground. You are power hungry and easily carried away. You will regret your actions because this marks the end of your political career”, said a UDC youth in attendance. However Arone remained unshaken throughout even though he nearly opted to having a dialogue with the people criticizing him. From time to time he had to be called back to the podium as he kept moving forward to face his accusers, some of who pointed fingers and swore at him.
“I still can’t make sense of why people are so bitter about me joining the BDP. I have received so much criticism since I defected, but that will ever change me. Instead your criticism makes me stronger by the day. Come 2019, some of you will be forced into hiding because I am going to crush you broad day light. I am going to make you regret competing against me”, he said. Arone added that he regrets the time he spent at the BCP because it was a time wasted as he had even overstayed. With only two BCP MP’s left in parliament, he said the party has died a silent death and that he sympathizes with its weak leadership. “These people are in denial, and denial leads to sickness. The BCP will never lead this country even with the right ammunition. Likewise the UDC is a composition of desperate people with false dreams. I have personally worked with Duma Boko and we all know he he is a pompous fellow who will never make a good leader no matter how hard he tries”.
Meanwhile Masisi has urged BDP members and supporters in Maun to demonstrate the much needed respect and also be patient with members of the opposition, particularly the past candidates. He advised that instead of fielding attacks on them, they should find ways of making them reconsider going ahead with the UDC coalition talks which he says have already collapsed as the party already has a lot in their hands that they cannot handle. The VP went on to say no party will ever match the BDP because at the BDP they preach transparency and well-timed consultation with their people and Batswana as a whole. As for the BCP, he said talking about them would have been a waste of time because to him the party never existed.
