Africa-Press – Botswana. The leader of the BPF, Mephato Reatile, says whatever happens between the BDP and BaNgwato is irrelevant to the BPF and that the party’s former patron, Kgosi Ian Khama IV of BaNgwato, is no longer politically active.
Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) is unfazed by the possible reconciliation between the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and BaNgwato, the president of the BPF, Mephato Reatile, has said.
In an interview amid speculation that the BDP gesture could be part of a broader strategy to mend ties with the BPF for the 2024 general elections, Reatile said whatever happens between the BDP and BaNgwato will not translate into cooperation between the BDP and the BPF.
“The reconciliation does not bother us as a party because the BDP was apologising to the tribe, not to us as a political organisation,” he emphasised.
“It is the congress that can decide”
The BPF leader dismissed suggestions that the party’s former patron, former president Ian Khama, could influence its political direction, should the reconciliation succeed.
Reatile stressed that Khama, who is now the Kgosikgolo of BaNgwato, is no longer politically active and therefore has no say in which parties the BPF may or may not associate with, saying such decisions can only be made collectively by the party’s congress.
“For the BPF to work with another party, it is the congress that can decide, not an individual,” he asserted.
Balopi’s prudence
Since taking over as BDP president at the elective congress of the BDP in Maun in May this year, Mpho Balopi has been adamant about the prudence of tendering an apology to BaNgwato because he holds that the BDP government mistreated them through some of its decisions.
Though the apology over the weekend in Serowe has so far borne no fruit, speculation is rife that the BDP gesture could be part of a broader strategy to make overtures to the BPF before the 2029 elections.
However, Balopi recently dismissed this in response to media questions, insisting that the move was not politically motivated.
Meanwhile, the GaMmaNgwato area was the heartland of the BDP until Khama was expelled from the party and eventually helped form the BPF in 2019. The nascent party went on to dominate the territory, thanks mainly to Khama’s influence.
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