- There is an alleged plan to use DISS agents to minimise Moswaane’s appeal
- Plan allegedly includes intimidating Moswaane’s donors
- BDP dismisses allegations as baseless
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
Recent deployment of agents the Director-ate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS) in Francistown West constituency who monitored people who attended Member of Parliament Ignatius Moswaane’s events were part of a plan to stop an exodus of people from the ruling party to the opposition, The Botswana Gazette has heard.
Sources close to developments say people who attended an event where Moswaane made donations to people in Francistown West were interrogated by agents of state security as part of a master plan of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to marginalize Moswaane by intimidating his supporters.
According to the sources, the BDP is concerned that the more Moswaane makes donations to people, the more people will follow him to opposition parties. “The BDP is worried that Moswaane is using the donations to entice its supporters to follow him to the opposition,” said one source. “The BDP is also worried that Moswaane is using these donations to help him defend his seat at the next general elections.”
It is said the greater plan includes security agents intimidating Moswaane’s donors in order to minimise his appeal in the constituency. “The BDP believes in the success of its plan to use security agents to intimidate and threaten Moswaane’s sympathizers,” the source said.
After Moswaane’s last donations to people in his constituency, security agents subjected him to an interrogation about his activities. Among other things, they wanted to know if COVID-19 health protocols were followed in the course of making his donations.
Reached for comment, Moswaane attributed the behaviour of the security agents to fears of a mass exodus of members of the BDP to the opposition. “What the BDP regime is doing is a clear sign of political intolerance because they are afraid that its members and supporters in my constituency might follow me to the opposition,” he said.
Meanwhile, the official spokesman of DISS, Edward Robert, had yet to respond to a Gazette questionnaire that he had requested. At the BDP, the Chairman of the Communications and International Relations Committee, Kagelelo Kentse, dismissed the allegations of intimidation of Moswaane and his supporters as baseless.