Confusion reigns supreme as to which party Tsamaya Ward councillor in the Tati East constituency, Reginald Mudongo, belongs to.
This is after the councillor on 16th September resigned from the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and subsequently applied for Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) membership.
In his letter of the 16th to the BMD secretariat, Mudongo wrote, “Please be advised that I have resigned from the party with immediate effect.”
Upon receiving his application, the BDP swiftly, on the 17th September, accepted him in its fold through a letter signed by Secretary General Mpho Balopi and copied to Tati East Branch Secretary as well as the Francistown Regional Secretary.
In his letter, Balopi stated that, “In reference to your letter dated 16th September 2012, the BDP Central Committee has accepted your request to join the party and accepts your membership into the party fold. You are now a member of the party in good standing with every right to a member as per prescription by the party constitution. By copy of this letter the Tati East Branch Committee and the Francistown Region are duly informed.”
Contacted to confirm if it was true that he had ditched the BMD and joined the BDP, Mudongo said he had not dumped the BMD.
“There was some confusion. I am still a member of the BMD. I have changed my mind after telling the party that I was resigning. As a politician I work with people and we have found ourselves making mistakes that we should not repeat. We are being recruited by other parties. I have been alone for too long and there has been a lot of pressure on me from other parties to join them. Talk to Wynter Mmolotsi, he will assure you that I have not resigned from the BMD,” said Mudongo before his phone went dead.
At the time of the interview, the politician had indicated that he was somewhere in the Serowe region where cellphone network was bad.
It, however, remains to be seen where Mudongo, a former BDP member who left with others to form the BMD’s loyalty lies, that is, with the BDP or BMD?
After Tati East legislator Samson Moyo Guma rejoined the BDP, Mudongo refuted media reports that he was also on his way to joining the BDP.
Mudongo has been a newsmaker in his own right.
In the run up to the BMD formation, Mudongo was among the Tati East councillors who were paraded by BDP president Ian Khama as the lot that was sticking with the BDP at a star rally in Tsamaya.
He, however, later left the BDP and joined the BMD to the surprise of political pundits. Political confusion clearly clings with Mudongo who can abandon one party in haste and hit a retreat in no time.
