- Mochotlhi and Autlwetses team merge
- More teams expected to join Autlwetse’s team
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
FRANCISTOWN: Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) candidate for the Youth League Chairmanship Thabo Autlwetse has received a major boost ahead of the elections, as Collen Mochotlhi has withdrawn her challenge for the same position to contest under his team.
The Botswana Gazette understands that with only a week left before the BDPYL elective congress scheduled for Tsabong, Mochotlhi who was one of the seven chairmanship hopefuls has pulled out and will now be contesting as Secretary General under Autlwetse’s team. Furthermore, Mochotlhi’s team is said to have merged with Autlwetse’s to make a single strong front. Three more teams are expected to coalesce with Autlwetse.
“We are likely to see more lobby-lists merging with team Autlwetse very soon. The teams are currently in negotiations of making a coalition ahead of the elective congress,” an insider revealed.
Mochotlhi confirmed the development when reached for comment: “I have not pulled back from the race per se as people allege but rather we have merged with Autlwetse’s lobby-list after many democrats approached us pleading we form one team for the benefit of our party. All democrats who approached us for coalition advanced the political profile we possess as the reason why we should merge. So the two teams sat down todiscuss this issue until we agreed. We ended up merging because we do not want to risk divisions post elective congress. With all these we ended up merging and we are also expecting four other lobby-lists to join us very soon. Negotiations are at an advanced stage,” he said.
Autlwetse who shared Mochotlhi’s sentiments said they made the decision looking at the bigger picture. “We proposed this coalition because we considered that this project is not about individuals but rather the party. So considering our political profiles we believe that working together we can benefit our party a lot. We are also expecting more than three lobby-lists to join us very soon,” he said.