BPP Embroiled In Leadership Row

  • Galetshabiwe calls Molapise a dictator
  • Molapise threatens more action against malcontents

SESUPO RANTSIMAKO

The leadership of the Botswana People’s Party (BPP) is embroiled in a controversy over the running of the party amid accusations that party president Motlatsi Molapise is a dictator who runs the BPP as a one-man show.

The controversy erupted recently after Molapise slapped the Secretary General Venta Galetshabiwe with a 45-day suspension from membership of the party for allegedly having called an illegal meeting of the central committee and plotting to topple the president.

Galetshabiwe’s reaction has been to call Molapise a dictator and a hypocrite, saying the decision to call the central committee meeting in question was made by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the BPP. He was surprised, he said, when Molapise subsequently claimed ignorance of the decision and warned members of the central committee against attending it.
“I called that meeting on behalf of the NEC by virtue of my position, but Molapise contradicted our decision because he was suspicious that I was hatching a plot to topple him,” Galetshabiwe told The Botswana Gazette. “That was not true because the agenda of the meeting was to discuss burning issues of leadership that sour working relations. Molapise wants to dictate, and so he snubbed the meeting and warned other members against attending it. But I do not want to discuss our internal matters with third parties. Everything will be addressed at the disciplinary hearing.”

Other members of the central committee concur with Galetshabiwe who also questioned Molapise’s leadership credentials because the BPP president allegedly calls himself the central committee and does not take advice. “It is high time Molapise made way for progressive minds that can help growth of the party instead of running the party as a one-man show,” said one central committee member who preferred anonymity.

When this was put to Molapise, he said Galetshabiwe and his allies must stop speaking ill about the BPP because doing so could attract further action against them.
But Acting Secretary General James Kaisara has risen to the defence of Molapise and accused Galetshabiwe of suddenly being hungry for power when he had all along been respectful to Molapise. “It is shameful for the party SG to behave in this manner,” Kaisara said. “Action will be taken against anyone who violates the constitution of our party.”