The ongoing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)internal audit is believed to be a fishing expedition for evidence that Party Secretary General, Mpho Balopi steered the 2018 party primary elections to prime the pump for his ascendence to the vice-presidency.
A committee made up of party Executive Secretary Reobonye Merafhe, Chairman of the strategy team Alfred Tsheboeng, and Deputy Secretary General Shaw Kgathi has been appointed to audit the BDP 2018 Bulela Ditswe primary elections. Balopi confirmed to the Sunday Standard that he was aware of the investigation, but would not discuss details.
In an interview with the Sunday Standard, BDP Communications Committee, Banks Kentse pointed out that the ongoing audit is a routine exercise. While the BDP has conducted primary election audits after every election, this time the process is tainted by an emerging framing of the party factional infighting as a power struggle for the vice-presidency engineered by Balopi who allegedly guided the 2018 party primary elections to his favour.
Balopi’s detractors are trying to connect the dots on his alleged role in the BDP factional infighting. The party strongmen is believed to have ambitions for the vice presidency; As party Secretary General, he presided over the BDP Bulela Ditswe that purged senior members believed to be potential contenders for the vice-presidency and brought in young Turks who are believed to be sympathetic to him.
Sunday Standard sources claim that while the attempt to put the pieces of the story together have only delivered a conspiracy theory, Balopi’s opponents hope the audit will provide the smoking gun.
Balopi currently has control over a BDP network that sprawls the whole country. A former ally to President Mokgweetsi Masisi, the two have since fallen out and barely exchange any words beyond officialese. An attempt by party elders to broker a ceasefire has collapsed.
President Masisi is said to be livid following a recent BDP groundswell of dissent against the State of Emergency.
A number of councilors recently spoke out against the State of Emergency, insisting that it should be discontinued.
Balopi is suspected to be the invisible hand behind the rebellion against SoE. Balopi is suspected of using the 2019 party primary elections to stack the deck in his favour. The primary elections saw an unprecedented number of party senior members particularly government Ministers losing their constituencies to younger newcomers.
Some disgruntled losers believe their loss was orchestrated from the party office. Unconfirmed reports pointed fingers at Secretary General Mpho Balopi who many believed harboured vice presidential ambitions post 2019 national elections.
Some of the senior party members included then members of Cabinet Kgathi, Nonofo Molefhi, Tshenolo Mabeo and Vincent Seretse.
Molefhi was widely regarded as a top contender for the country’s vice presidency. While it remains unclear who ordered the investigation, those within the BDP inner circles believe the move is aimed at fishing for enough evidence to prevent Balopi from running for another term in office. “The idea is to prevent him from having an open contest because of fears he is more likely to retain his seat. He enjoys a lot of sympathy from party members due to his perceived victimization by party leadership particularly President Mokgweetsi Masisi,” a source has told Sunday Standard. Balopi confirmed to this publication on Friday that he was aware of investigations into the party’s last primary elections. He however referred our enquiries to Executive Secretary, Ms Merafhe who also refused to answer our questions.
“Chairman of the Communications Committee Banks (Kentse) is the one responsible for dealing with the media,” she said. Tsheboeng also refused to comment. Kentse confirmed to this publication that indeed the party was “reflecting” on the last primary elections. He said however that it was the norm for the party to assess the previous Bulela Ditswe before undertaking the next one.
“It is done every other time. Usually when we carry out a review of the party’s performance in the last general elections we also reflect the preceding primaries.”
While party treasurer Satar Dada said he was not aware of any audit into party’s procurement of services around the 2018 primaries and the 2019 general elections, Sunday Standard has been informed that procurement will also form part of investigations.
