Former president Lt. Gen. Ian Khama has said that it is treachery for the politicians to cross floors without informing the electorates.
He said they must seek the electorates’ opinion before crossing floors.
Addressing members of the Africa Gospel Church in Mmandunyane-Zezuru- last Friday, Khama said before he defected from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) he asked permission from his electorates.
“I came to apologize to you for delaying to visit you again and give you the present I promised to give you the last time I was here. This was because I asked someone called Moathodi to remind me when he gets to Gaborone. Did he come here to seek your permission to return to Cava?”
“No Sir!” responded the congregation, whose attendance was limited in observance of the Covid-19 regulations.
Khama lambasted that when Legislator, Pono Moatlhodi approached him he could foresee that he would one day abandon electorates but forced himself to give the MP a chance; hoping that he has changed.
“I knew Moathodi would defect. But here we are. They are treacherous. These utterances that Mr Saleshando has not treated him well are just excuses. There is something he has been promised to gain at Cava. Anyway, this is not a political meeting. I have brought your present. Here it is,” he said, raising a bulky white envelope. Its contents- P200 and P100 notes totaling P10 000!
In 2019 when he had come to introduce Moatlhodi to them as parliamentary candidate, the Zezuru community had a house construction project at their Africa Gospel Church- a project spear headed by the Sisters of the Church at the mission plot. They asked that Khama help them with some funds needed to complete the building. By Friday January 2021 when the present ultimately arrived, the project was complete and the congregants had started another one. That is where the funds would be utilized.
Khama’s criticism of floor-crossing comes after opposition legislators including MP Moatlhodi, who was then an opposition member opposed the same bill on the grounds that it was hastened after being shelved for years. They argued that it should have waited for the Constitutional review so that they could go consult the electorates.
