Africa-Press – Botswana. Parliamentary and council candidates of the Botswana Patriotic Front could be headed for a showdown with the president of the party, Mephato Reatile, over the decision to quit the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and want their names submitted to the UDC.
In a letter conveyed to the party through Segadimo Legal Practice, the candidates say while Reatile purportedly exercised his powers to terminate BPF membership of the UDC, no official memorandum to that effect has been issued.
The letter is signed by Boatametse Nthobogang, Rajaba Lekgaba, Thabiso Tendani and Mmapula Tsholofelo, among others.
Party colours
“While the members and candidates wait for confirmation of their party’s with bated breath, they remain lingering on whether the successful candidates should start producing their campaign merchandise under party colours or UDC,” they wrote.
“Further, the candidates are asking themselves whether the UDC will accept their individual submissions that have not been confirmed by the party.
“We hereby do demand that you clarify the party’s position within the UDC as mandated by its extra-ordinary congress of 29th to 30th April 2023 and reaffirmed by the extra-ordinary congress of 15th to 17th September 2023 to the party structure, general membership and the media.”
The candidates say they “demand” their party to submit their names, as candidates who will represent the BPF in the general elections, to the UDC or they will institute legal proceedings.
Extra-ordinary congress
The BPF resolved to join the UDC in August 2022 on the basis of a resolution was ratified by the party’s extra-ordinary congress on 29 and 30 April 2023.
However, on 7 April this year, the BPF president announced that he had exercised his powers to terminate membership of the BPF in the UDC.
However, the candidates hold that Reatile’s decision disrespected the national congress as the supreme structure of the BFP.
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