Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) president Ndaba Gaolathe has finally broken the silence on the awaited investigation report into the death of the party’s founding president, Gomolemo Motswaledi. Speaking during the BMD third elective congress held over the weekend in Gantsi, Gaolathe said the nation should ask the government about the report and also to explain to them about what happened to Motswaledi.
“The people you want answers from are those in government, they are the ones who should explain what happened to Motswaledi,” he said, adding that it is every Motswana’s right to know what happened to their leader.
According to Gaolathe, the police and high ranking government officials have not given an explanation to Motswaledi’s death like it is done in other countries when a leader dies from ‘suspicious’ circumstances. “The first thing this government could have done was to explain to Batswana what happened, but they declined to do so. They then refused to give us the report,” he said, further stating, “If there are people whom you should from time to time ask about the report is the government of Botswana.”
Gaolathe said it was upon realising that the government was unwilling to answer their questions that they engaged private experts to give Batswana an explanation on the circumstances surrounding the death of Motswaledi. “We are only politicians and do not have the expertise. Thus, there is a team tasked with the investigations and it is headed by Dick Bayford,” he said.
Gaolathe explained that the team has done much of the work and is yet to complete the investigations. “What I can confirm to you is that they have done the bulk of the work but what they have gathered so far does not show what happened; instead it has raised more questions than there were before.”
He told the congress to be appreciative of the work that the team has done thus far more so that they have put their lives on the line for Batswana to eventually know the truth. “ Lesang go bogola batho ba ka gore ba tsentse matshelo a bone mo diphatseng, se le ka se dirang ke go ba leboga ; ba ikentshitse setlhabelo gore le tle le itse se se ka tswang se diragetse.” [Stop barking at the investigating team, they have put their lives on the line so that you get to know what really happened]
The BMD president stressed that the nation should not expect the report from the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), rather from the investigating team. “The investigating team will give you the report, not the UDC. We can only update you on how far they are with investigations,” he said, stating that the team will however brief Motswaledi’s father and family before they can tell the nation.
Motswaledi died last year July in a car accident along A1 near Ramatlabama border. Many did not buy reports of an accident, arguing that it was staged. They suspected that Motswaledi was assassinated. At the time, the Botswana Police issued a statement that Motswaledi was killed in a tragic accident and nothing else.