- Letter should be taken as an individual opinion
- BPP has never taken any position regarding recent UDC meeting
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
FRANCISTOWN: Botswana People’s Party (BPP) President Motlatsi Molapise says the charged statement of his party youth league rebutting claims that the party snubbed a UDC leadership meeting after formal invitation- is not their official position.
Reports surfaced last week that the BPP snubbed a meeting called to discuss one of its contracting partners, the BMD, which is seized with bitter factional battles. The reports angered BPP youth league President Takula Lenyatso who specifically criticized UDC Spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa for implying in the media that their party was sent an invitation.
Lenyatso said a meeting between President UDC Duma Boko and friends from the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) cannot be taken to be an official meeting of the UDC executive committee. “Therefore, the meeting being referred to was not a meeting of the UDC executive committee. The BCP is a third party and does not have rights to attend and participate in official meetings of the UDC executive committee. Therefore, Mohwasa’s testimony is extremely false and should be discarded. His testimonies are at all times properly designed and rehearsed to project a good picture of him and that of his friends without regard to their ethical implications,” he blasted.
Of discussing BMD issues, Lenyatso said it was “a sensitive matter and cannot be done in the presence of third parties, therefore the BPP will not participate in such a discussion in the presence of the BCP and/or any other third party unless reasonable grounds can be advanced for that to be done. The BPPYL and the BPP have not taken any well-formed positions concerning issues within the BMD. It should be noted however that the BPP believes in a strict application of the law to maintain order and progress,” he wrote.
Molapisi, the party president, was however reluctant to discuss the youth league statement, claiming to be unaware of its details. “I am not privy to details of the letter but only learnt about it from other party’s members during our weekend meeting, but it must be noted that BPP has never taken any position regarding the issue of recent UDC meeting. If what I hear about the letter is true, it must be noted that our party has an internal process we follow when we want to take a position. This therefore means that the letter should be taken as an individual opinion because everyone is entitled to different opinions in a democratic set up,” he told The Botswana Gazette.
“Over the weekend some members raised this issue at our meeting but it was difficult to discuss it further as some of us we not aware of the letter or privy about the details,” Molapisi explained.