Scores of disruptive Botswana National Front (BNF) members who identify as Team Bucs are likely to be suspended in the coming days for staging demonstrations at the party headquarters in Gaborone.
The disgruntled group, which also has a Youth League lobby list called ‘Team Unity’, has been frequenting the party office to protest in song and with placards displaying messages accusing party leadership of injustice.
In their last protest, the angry members called for the postponement of the Youth League congress, which was scheduled for Saturday in Letlhakeng, a demand which the party agreed to.
The group has also been accusing some party members from Team Boko of printing membership cards after the deadline.
In the past week, Team Unity cried that membership cards for those in Team Revival supporting Duma Boko for the presidency were being printed at night in order to rig elections.
The former Member of Parliament for Mogoditshane, Mokgweetsi Kgosipula, was the first one to bite the dust as he was suspended pending a hearing for doing an interview against the party constitution.
Kgosipula was charged for indiscipline after the Argus online interview in which he said, “BNF has been accusing BDP of rigging elections but BNF is worse than the BDP in rigging.”
“Your utterances of telling the whole nation that BNF is worse than BDP did not only drag the name of the BNF into disrepute but shocked BNF members nationally,” reads Kgosipula’s suspension letter.
However, according to a highly-placed source within the party, more members, especially those who were protesting and doing interviews at the party office without authority, will be suspended.
The source said that the regions were alerted of their members’ unbecoming behaviour and they promised to instill discipline soonest.
Meanwhile, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Justin Hunyepa, said that the respective party structures are responsible for the discipline of the general membership in their respective locations.
“It is up to their assessment as to what action they will take to instil discipline. The Constitution and Code of Discipline and Procedure provide extensive information on how to handle disciplinary issues and therefore they will be guided by these party documents,” Hunyepa explained.