Phage’s remarks shock Tshireletso

Daniel Chida
DISMISSIVE: Botlogile Tshireletso

I never opposed Masisi’s appointment to the Vice Presidency

Former Member of Parliament for Mahalapye East, Botlogile Tshireletso has dismissed remarks made by Botswana Patriotic Front carder, Phagenyana Phage at a political rally recently that she had opposed the appointment of President Mokgweetsi Masisi as Vice President.

When addressing a BPF rally in Palapye over the weekend, Phage said that former President Ian Khama’s apology that he made a mistake by appointing Masisi goes a long way.

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Phage, a former Botswana Congress Party member who defected to BPF last year singled out Tshireletso as one of the Botswana Democratic Party members who were against Masisi’s appointment.

“Tshireletso and others were against his appointment to be Vice President, but Khama stood his ground saying Masisi was his preferred choice,” explained Phage. However, the former Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development had dismissed Phage’s remarks as lies.

“I never had a problem with Masisi’s appointment, In fact we used to travel together on poverty eradication projects. He was a good person to work with,” said Tshireletso in an interview.

She said coming from someone who has never been a member of the ruling party, Phage’s utterances were a total shock to her, because he could not claim to have been in a meeting with her or to have had a relationship with her.

“I do have friends in the opposition but Phage is not one of them. I don’t know him well and we are not friends at all. His remarks come as a shock to me and I am wondering why he had to use my name,” Tshireletso said.

Giving a bit of an insight into what happened, Tshireletso said that before Masisi’s appointment, there was a secret voting through the ballot box but Khama never revealed the results.

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“We don’t know what the outcome was but you could see that some cabinet members didn’t endorse Masisi,” she said before adding that the decision to endorse Masisi was at the end entirely Khama’s as he was entitled to choose supposed a person he was comfortable to work with.

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