BY PATIENCE RADISOENG
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) national spokesperson, Dithapelo Keorapetse, berated and hurled insults at the Sunday Standard when asked about the apparent storm brewing in the Ramotswa constituency.
Three Ramotswa councilors have tendered their resignations, saying they are “fed-up” with unfair treatment within the BCP leadership in the South East District Council (SEDC). The councilors say they tendered their resignations because the party head office turned a deaf ear to their grievances.
“I do not wish to respond to any Sunday Standard enquiries. Your paper is biased and will never write anything positive about the BCP or the Umbrella for Democratic Change. Your paper was once with the Alliance for Progressives. You always praised the party. Now you are with [The BDP’s President] Masisi,” he fumed. Keorapetse threatened the BCP will never cooperate with this publication. He declared, without hesitation, that the Sunday Standard publishes ‘@sh**’ before hanging up.
Kgosing ward councilor Lawrence Dintwa Seitei, affectionately known as Mpharanyane, said he decided to quit the BCP after he could not agree with the branch committee over numerous issues.
“It was a tough decision to make due to the love I have for the party and the people that voted for me under the BCP ticket, but the working environment and the situation within my ward has become poisonous therefore unbearable for me to continue under such conditions,” he detailed.
However he was hasten to say he is grateful to the BCP family for the opportunities that they have offered him throughout his political career.
In his resignation letter which he submitted on the 25th February 2019, Seitei did not indicate which party he would be joining. He said he remains open to any party that might have an interest in him but did not rule out the possibility of standing as an independent candidate.
“I can’t just dump more than one hundred people who still have faith in me,” said Seitei.
A long time trojan horse of the BCP, councilor Kgabo Mabotseng of Magopane ward who has also resigned, said he has raised concerns with the party leadership last year but claimed they fell on deaf ears.
“I resigned in June last year because things were not going accordingly in my constituency especially from the leadership side,” he said.
Lemogang Kalaote of Mothubakwane ward who handed the third resignation said the party has the habit of conducting constituency activities without informing him. All the three councilors lost during the party’s primary elections.
The Ramotswa constituency was hard won by the BCP after it wrestled it from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the 2014 general election. The incumbent Member of Parliament, Samuel Rantuana faces a formidable challenge from the BDP’s Lefoko Fox Moagi.
The question that begs an answer has to be: “Is the BCP losing ground in Ramotswa?”