TSAONE SEGAETSHO
Veteran politician and UDC Advisor Margaret Nasha cannot intervene or give her opinion in the current internal bickering engulfing Botswana Movement for Democracy(BMD), a source has revealed.
As an elder, and having assumed advisory responsibility, it is curious why Nasha’s voice has not been heard, particularly intervention in the ugly fall out between the Ndaba/Mmolotsi and the so-called Tripple M. faction of Modubule/Mangole.
“She is not sidelined. I think she gets mutual respect from both sides. She would never publicly comment or show her hand. I think the situation is beyond settling, both sides are severely polarized,” the source close to Nasha explained, saying she cannot comment even if she has an opinion. Attempts to get her to speak for herself were futile as she insisted in not commenting; she however promised to issue a media statement after the dust has settled, suggesting that the congress could help reconcile differences.
The BMD goes into its National Congress this weekend in utter disarray and there are fears that passions could lead to fights similar to those in 1998 when a congress of the Botswana National Front (BNF) in Palapye descending into chaos following bitter disagreements over the legitimacy of the central committee among other issues.
In a press conference yesterday, Gaborone Central MP Dr Phenyo Butale who is aligned to the Ndaba/Mmolotsi faction said the Tripple M faction cannot entertain mediation even by Nasha as they are extremists whose wish is to only destroy the movement. He said the faction showed this disregard for party elders when it expelled the chairman of the BMD Committee of Elders Pako Keokilwe and its secretary Snowy Rampha. “We are dealing with people on an assignment to destroy the movement and postpone change,” said Dr Butale said.
In an interview, BMD Chairman Nehemiah Modubule, who is leader of the Triple M faction said it was not true that they disregard party elders but that eldes like Rampha and Keokilwe who “defile” party constituion will be desciplined accordingly. Modubule said no one is bigger than the party. While he did not speak about Nasha, he said that they did engage a lot of people like pastors to mediate but have not been successful because of the nature of people they are dealing with.
Contrasting information exists on whether Ndaba, Mmolotsi and others in the faction have been expelled and whether the charges have any legal legitimacy, especially in a case where differences are chiefly factional. They are however understood to have been charged with among other things indiscipline.