“Co-opted members have no authority” – Regional Chairperson
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Francistown Regional Chairperson, Sean Sebele has played down the volatile situation unfolding at the Francistown West constituency.
On November, 19th, 2020, new members were co-opted into the Branch Committee with Mpezeni Sambandawe and Gosego Madziba coming in as the Chairperson and Secretary-General respectively.
However, the previous Chairperson and the Secretary-General, who allegedly had indicated that they’ll be stepping down, opposed the co-option and demanded their positions back as the legitimately elected committee members.
The regional committee has, however, argued that the co-opting was unconstitutional and demanded its dissolution. The Regional Committee further ordered that all party activities in the constituency should be suspended until the situation has normalized.
According to concerned democrats, although nullified, the co-opted committee continues to defy the party by holding illegal meetings.
At the heart of the mess is Member of Parliament (MP) Ignatius Moswaane, whose defection to the opposition has allegedly polarised members in the constituency and left the structures in disarray.
The Voice has been informed that Moswaane’s loyalists within the branch have decided to hold on to their positions for as long as they can to frustrate and destabilise the party within the constituency.
There is, however, nothing to worry about according to Sebele.
In an interview with The Voice on Wednesday, Sebele said as far as they know the co-opted positions are still vacant.
“Co-opted members have no authority because they’re conflicted. However, they’re still democrats and are free to take part in any of the party activities,” he said.
Sebele further explained that the situation is not as bad as most people want to portray it, but an internal matter that will be solved amicably.
“It is not too big to handle. We’ll deal with it and rest assured the situation will not in anyway prevent the BDP to function in the constituency. Remember, this does not affect the entire branch, but a few positions. We do have a Regional deployee and Committee Ex-Officios in Francistown West who can step in whenever needed,” he said.