As the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) heads to Rakops for its Youth Wing Congress to be held over the weekend, the party’s Secretary General, Mpho Balopi’s name has been dragged in.
Balopi is accused of interfering in youth matters with the intention of positioning his preferred candidates.
The two camps of Collen Mochothi and Karabo Gomotsegang respectively which are battling for positions within the BDP Youth Wing were summoned to Tsholetsa House about a week ago.
Reports indicate that the Collen Mochothi camp had approached Balopi asking him to propose a compromise but it failed as the other party preferred elections.
The Karabo camp which is reportedly leading the race is said to be the least fancied by the SG as, should it win, it will limit his chances of coming back as SG during the National Congress in July.
The BDPYW congress is widely regarded as a precursor to the BDP national congress and Balopi is reportedly bankrolling the Mochothi camp with the hope that the youth vote will bolster his campaign ambitions at the party national congress.
Gomotsegang rejoined the BDP from BMD in 2015 after being recruited back by then party Chairman- Mokgweetsi Masisi, and immediately joined his campaign team for Mmadinare congress.
According to a source, Balopi is meddling with delegates list in an effort to give Collen a lifeline and a chance at the helm of youth wing.
“He is removing names of delegates he does not personally know. He is even manipulating the voters roll and our fear is that we may go to Rakops as delegates or voters but end up being denied to do anything. He also turned down a proposal of having an independent body from the University of Botswana to run elections. This has worried some of the youth,” he said and added: “Ours is to speak to the democrats, ask for a vote in a very humble manner, we don’t have cash to splash out but we are determined to protect the BDP and its leadership, not what the SG is doing”.
However, when called for comment, Gomotsegang said that some of his members were threatening to pull out if the congress is not free and fair.
“We want to see the voters roll before we take part in elections. We also want to see if our delegates have been accepted, otherwise we will pull out,” he threatened.
Efforts to get a comment from Balopi hit a snag as his mobile phone was off.
Balopi is not new to controversy, after the last BDP Primary elections, majority of the losers pointed accusing fingers at him allerging he had a hand in the outcome of the elections.