Suspended BCP members in the dark

  • Yet to know their fate
  • BCP accuses them of snubbing hearing

SESUPO RANTSIMAKO

FRANCISTOWN: Almost four months after being slapped with indefinite suspension for supporting Tshimoyapula ward independent candidate, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) activists who are waiting for their disciplinary hearings remain in the dark about their fate.
On the backdrop of Tshimoyapula bye-elections last August, BCP took a decision to suspend its activists who supported the independent candidate Chibuya Dabutha. Dabutha resigned from the BCP to contest as an independent candidate in protest of supporting an Umbrella for Democratic Party (UDC) candidate. Around 10 activists were slapped with suspension letters pending disciplinary hearing for allegedly violating BCP constitutional provisions. The suspended members were to be informed of their charges at a later stage.
However almost four months into the suspension, the activists claim to be still in the dark about the suspension and charges. They say they were promised to be charged at a later stage but are still yet to know their charges.
One of the suspended BCP activists Akanyang Letsweletse told The Botswana Gazette that although they were hoping to hear from the party they remain in the dark about their fate. “I believe we are still serving suspension because no one has ever talked to us concerning the suspension. Though no one ever called us for hearing  I once learnt that the hearing has been  postponed to a later date but even as we speak I do not know the scheduled date because there is no formal communication,” he said.
Another activist, Poloko Monang, says he does not care about the suspension and has never bothered himself to collect his suspension letter. “I only learnt about my suspension while I was still in Tshimoyapula but when they called me to collect the letter I told them to take any decision they want. So, currently I careless about what is happening about the suspension,” he said.
For his part, Makena Letsatsi said he suspected that the party wants to delay the suspension in order to avoid them to participate in the coming youth league elections scheduled for April. “They know that most of us will challenge their preferred candidates and they are delaying our fate to deny us the opportunity to contest,” he pointed out.
However, BCP Deputy Secretary General Akanyang Magama pointed that although the party called the suspended members for hearings, none of them turned up. “The hearing was scheduled for December but no one attended, therefore we are still awaiting the report of the disciplinary committee which might be released sometimes this week,” he said.