“Punish parties that dump the UDC”- Keorapetse

  • They will be sabotaging the only hope for Batswana
  • This will be an obstacle to regime change

SESUPO RANTSIMAKO

FRANCISTOWN: The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has urged electorates to shun any opposition party that pulls back from the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) coalition in the coming 2014 general elections.
Addressing a UDC rally in Francistown BCP Publicity Secretary and Phikwe West MP Dithapelo Keorapetse said the opposition coalition was a viable project and the only hope that can free Batswana from the BDP’s oppression. He said any contracting partners who pulls back will be sabotaging Batswana and needs to be punished in 2019, “Henceforth any opposition party that intends to quit the UDC and stand alone will be an obstacle to regime change therefore should be shunned by the electorates.”
His sentiments were emphasized by the Leader of MELS, Themba Joina, who encouraged Batswana to not lose hope in the UDC. He blamed the BDP for media reports which he said were designed to tarnish the opposition. “The opposition coalition is still intact and viable therefore I urge Batswana to stay believing in the project. There is nothing wrong with experiencing obstacles in any political movement because this happens to any party. So, the electorates should not doubt the UDC just because it is currently experiencing some challenges because it is still viable,” he said.
Keorapetse’s sentiments, even if he did not acknowledge it openly, come from the experience of the 2014 general election where his party, the BCP, pulled out of the opposition coalition, eventually becoming the target of a well mastered UDC de-campaigning strategy which saw it return with no more than three MPs, the main casualty being its President Dumelang Saleshando who was pipped by Dr Phenyo Butale for the Gaborone Central constituency.
Keorapetse’s views can also be viewed in light of the rumor circulating about the possibility of the Ndaba Gaolatlhe faction of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) forming a new political party. It has emerged that the Ndaba faction suspects that the process to resolve their impasse with the Sydney Pilane faction of the party is being deliberately delayed to aid the latter who are purportedly preferred in the grand scheme to eliminate Ndaba and co.