Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) vice-president Dumelang Saleshando is running a parallel campaign to negotiate easier payment terms for UDC elections petitions legal bill.
Information reaching Sunday Standard suggests the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) president hopes to emerge a hero in the eyes of petitioners and UDC supporters as the fight for leadership between himself and coalition president Duma Boko intensifies.
The UDC president’s popularity among petitioners has taken a nosedive following his failure to secure funds for the gigantic legal bill that has the deputy sheriff breathing down their neck.
Now his vice president, it seems, wants to leverage the situation to give his political career a boost.
Saleshando recently approached Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Chairman Slumber Tsogwane, and Secretary General Mpho Balopi seeking to discuss a possible solution to the UDC’s financial crisis over elections petitions. Both Saleshando and Balopi have confirmed the meeting.
The BDP duo is said to have turned down the UDC vice president saying such a matter could only be discussed with their legal representatives Bogopa, Manewe, Tobedza & Co and those of the UDC.
Saleshando requested that the BDP lower the bill but the two informed him that it was not within their powers to accede to such demands, insisting on consultation with President Mokgweetsi Masisi and BDP lawyers.
Saleshando is said to have insisted that their (UDC) lawyer wouldn’t understand the position he was coming from especially because he (the lawyer) is a conflicted member of the BNF. He is said to have further requested that Tsogwane and Balopi arrange a meeting between himself and President Masisi to discuss the matter one on one. In his response, Sunday Standard has learnt, Balopi insisted that should they ask the BDP President for a meeting Saleshando should attend in the company of UDC President Duma Boko, insisting there was no way Masisi would negotiate such a matter without the presence of his UDC counterpart.
Saleshando is reported to have not taken kindly to the idea of inviting Boko to the meeting, implying that the UDC president was a frustrated political reject who would delay progress in resolving the matter.
He floated the idea of reaching out to the elections petitioners individually and negotiating payment per individual request a proposal the BDP leaders also objected.
The UDC vice president also asked to be given more time to source funds for the legal bill. Balopi and Tsogwane however told him they would not interfere with legal processes, asking Saleshando to discuss the matter with their lawyers through his UDC legal representatives.
“We are only third parties in this matter. Everything is in the hands of our legal representatives,” Balopi has said in an interview with Sunday Standard, confirming they did meet with Saleshando. “The two of us (including Tsogwane) cannot make decisions on behalf of the BDP. We believe in consultation. And it would not have been right to enter into any agreement with an individual.”
Saleshando is said to have told the duo that he was supposed to have been accompanied by his BCP vice president Kesitegile Gobotswang but the legislator was however held up over parliamentary business.
He confirmed the meeting to Sunday Standard saying he went to negotiate the UDC legal bill although he would not be drawn into discussing the details of the meeting. “I was sent by the UDC National Executive Committee and I have not even reported back to them yet,” Saleshando said last week.
UDC Spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa however said he was not aware of a meeting between Saleshando and the BDP Chairman and Secretary General. “It’s news to me,” Mohwasa said.
Boko refused to comment on the matter, referring our inquiries to Mohwasa. The news about Saleshando’s meeting with the BDP comes at the back of heated exchanges between his BCP and coalition partners BNF activists possibly triggered by UDC President Duma Boko’s December 31st social media post which read like a veiled attack on Saleshando and other political opponents.
An excerpt from Boko’s letter reads: “I have also met scoundrels along the way; ungrateful people whom I have supported and for whom I have done so much. Yet to this day they are unable to express any thanks and gratitude. They rather elect to insult, malign and disparage me. I have witnessed dramatic eruptions of envy, jealousy and betrayal from many I assisted, even rescued from unemployment and un-employability. Some of their attacks almost mortally wounded me. And they still have the gall to come to me and come to me repeatedly, with some misplaced sense of entitlement. They expect me to empty myself, exert myself for them; reach out to my networks across the world, and mobilize resources for them to gain political office and get employed, only for them to turn around and vilify me and brand me a failure.”
Saleshando also seemed to offer a veiled response three days later on January 3rd 2020, using his son to draw an analogy on how he possibly intends to deal with the situation:
“Today I reminded Seabo of an incident that occurred when he was in standard 2. He returned from school and reported that one student had punched him during play time. I told him that the right thing is to report to the teacher not his parent. I asked him if he had reported to the teacher. His response was: “I punched him back so that he can be the one that reports to the teacher.”
“My message to Seabo today was based on the Kenny Rogers song, Coward of the County. Part of the lyrics command as follows: Walk away from trouble if you can. Now it won’t mean you are weak if you turn the other cheek. I hope you are old enough to understand. Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man.”
