FRANCISTOWN: As the impasse between Francistown Mayor Sylvia Muzila and her Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) colleagues continues, the Mayor has reportedly written a letter to the party requesting it to expel some councilors amidst claims that they are revolting against her leadership.
Recently, the embattled Mayor has been at loggerheads with her party colleagues over allegations that her leadership has brought divisions within the BDP councilors. Consequently, the BDP councilors planned a ploy to topple her from the Mayoral position through a motion of no confidence. The motion was never tabled since the party leadership intervened.
However, just a few weeks after the dust settled, NorthCast was reliably informed that the Mayor is fed up with some of her colleagues, namely; two special elected councilors James Kgalajwe and Peter Ngoma, as well as her deputy, Lechedzani Mudenga. According to the source, the Mayor has written a letter to the party office requesting the leadership to use their discretion and bar the trio from heading any council committee as they influence other councilors to revolt against her leadership.
Further, according to the source, in the letter, Muzila accuses the trio of bringing divisions within the BDP councilors. “The Mayor’s discontent is that the trio are running the council at ransom due to their long feud with her. This alone has influenced the youthful councilors to join the bandwagon of revolting against the Mayor’s leadership,” revealed the insider.
Reached for comment, Ngoma confirmed knowledge of the letter though he was not sure about its contents. “I have not seen Muzila’s letter of complaint but what I learnt from other councilors is that she has written to the party requesting the leadership to expel us from all committee chairpersonship positions for the reasons I do not know. Curiously, what I learnt from some councilors is that we do not support her and are on a mission to destroy her. She also accused us of bringing divisions within the BDP councilors,” he said.
Ngoma also said the Mayor wrote the letter and made some councilors to sign it as a disguise. “She wants us to think that the councilors are the ones who want us expelled,” said Ngoma.
Ngoma said the Mayor wants to tarnish their image. “If any councilors are supportive of the Mayor, it’s me and Kgalajwe considering that we are former mayors. So, I am wondering why she always accuses us instigating a revolt against her leadership,” Ngoma quizzed rhetorically.
Mudenga could not be reached for comment and Kgalajwe was not aware of the letter of complaint written to the party. However, Kgalajwe expressed concern about Muzila’s attitude of destabilizing the party. “I think she is doing all this because she is favoured by the party leadership. If she can continue with her tendency to destabilize the party, come 2019 it may affect the party’s performance at the elections. So, I challenge the party leadership to take action against Muzila for this continuous destabilization of the party,” charged Kgalajwe.
Muzila could not be reached for comment as she was said to be outside the country. The Regional Chairman, Sabelo Matikiti’s phone rang unanswered.