Following the tragic death of Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) leader who was also Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) candidate for Gaborone central, Gomolemo Motswaledi, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has halted all the party political activities in the constituency until Motswaledi is buried next Friday.
BCP campaign manager in Gaborone Central, Oral Kealeboga Mosadame, told the Sunday Standard that in respect to the passing of Motswaledi they find it appropriate to suspend the activities.
“Obviously in respect to Motswaledi’s passing we have since decided to suspend any activities of the party until he is finally laid to rest so as to honour his passing. It is a way of paying last respects to him. We had planned house to house campaigns; we had a planned for a rally but a person of Motswaledi’s caliber cannot be ignored. We were in this thing together. Though he was our political rival the first thing that came to our minds was that he is a human being and he deserves all our respect. We had nothing against him as a political rival. We met with him several times and made jokes to each other about winning the area. That is why we find it suit to pay him our last respect,” he said.
Botswana Democratic Party candidate for Gaborone Central, Rupert Hambira, said they would likewise suspend their political activities in the areas.
“We are meeting with the branch structure to suspend our active politicking in the area to honour Motswaledi. He is a huge loss to this nation. I met Motswaledi in 1989 at the University of Botswana, he was the best man in my wedding in 2002; Motswaledi, I and two others are the founder of the KTM choir. We had a good relationship despite our political divide. I met him in Choppies just last week and that was the last of our lives before he parted,” said Hambira.
“He was a very close friend of over 25 years. Our parties divide did not interfere with our relationship,” he added.
The UDC has officially suspended all active politicking nationwide.
Meanwhile, the UDC youth league say they would demonstrate to show their unhappiness over the current status quo on the heels of Motswaledi’s death.
“We shall intensify our campaigns against the current regime by holding massive demonstrations and public rallies in the whole country. We call on our youth from the entire political divide to participate actively in the unfolding era by availing themselves and participating in these demonstrations. We are setting up a Strategy Team which will inform and guide our campaigns. We call on members of the civil society to speak out against these blatant injustices and declining state of affairs in our country. We shall approach progressive civil society organisations with a view of devising a centralised all inclusive campaign mechanisms to put pressure on the ruling regime to effect the long overdue democratic changes that the nation craves,” UDC youth league leader Phenyo Segokgo noted.
