- Ex BDP member says Matsheka wanted Masisi & Khama dead
- Says he was asked to kill Matsheka’s opponents
- Claims are erratic and unfounded – BDP
- BPF following the matter closely
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is yet to convene over allegations that cabinet minister Dr. Thapelo Matsheka may be involved in a plot to assassinate President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his predecessor Ian Khama, The Botswana Gazette has established.
One Tumisang Setumbeko, who says he was part of Matsheka’s campaign team for the 2019 general elections, has gone on social media with shocking claims of how he allegedly turned down instructions by Matsheka to kill certain people.
Setumbeko says the plot to assassinate Masisi was to be carried out when the President was in Lobatse to officially launch Matsheka as the BDP parliamentary candidate for the town in July 2019. In a video clip that emerged this week, Setumbeko says he has full evidence to back his spine-chilling claims and is ready to prove them in court.
“… Ke kopa Tautona a botse Rre Matsheka gore agenda ya lona le bo mmata ba gago ya go bolaya Tautona ka launch ya Domkrag ko Lobatse, a mo tlhalosetse ka yone,” he says on the video, his image as clear as day. (I want the President to ask Dr. Matsheka to tell him about his agenda of killing the President at the BDP launch in Lobatse.)
“That guy had an agenda, I was ordered to go and kill people and I refused, I refused to go and poison Kamal Jacobs. I refused to go and poison Jomo Dithebe.”
In another video also released this week, Setumbeko claims that Dr. Matsheka wanted to see former president Ian Khama dead after Khama launched Kamal Jacobs ahead of the 2019 general elections. The youthful Setumbeko says he refused to carry out this instruction as well.
Dr. Matsheka, who is said to have reported the matter to the police, did not answer his phone when The Botswana Gazette called to ask about these allegations yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.
The BDP’s head of communications, Kagelelo Kentse, has described Setumbeko’s claims as erratic and unfounded. “The party has not discussed the issue as yet but it does sound very erratic and unfounded,” Kentse said. “It seems like a plan to damage the reputation of our honourable MP, to soil his name and to character-assassinate him.”
By contrast, ex-president Khama’s Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) says they are following the matter very closely and that a decision on taking the matter forward will be made in due course. BPF president Biggie Butale has told The Botswana Gazette that they are still informing themselves on the issue.