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BDP members demand apology for 2014 elections remarks
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)’s Political Education and Elections Committee (PEEC) Chairperson, Alec Seametso’s utterances against Kgosi Tawana Moremi during the 2014 general elections have come back to haunt him.
At the controversy marred North West Regional Congress that was held at The Village Church in Maun over the weekend, delegates from Maun East attacked Seametso for the foul remarks he had uttered against their chief in 2014 and demanded an apology.
According to an inside source, some members of Maun East did not want Seametso to oversee the election process or be part of the congress at all.
The group is said to have accused Seametso of costing them the 2014 elections with the insults he had directed at their Kgosikgolo, Tawana Moremi.
In 2014 while accompanying the then President Ian Khama, Seametso who was launching Mbulawa at Maun West attacked Kgosi Tawana at a rally for allegedly failing to financially maintain his family, forcing Khama to take them under his care instead.
“He is never present in Parliament and behaves as if he is Jesus; vote him out before he sells your land,” are some of the insults Seametso had hurled at Tawana during that rally.
Kgosi Tawana contested the 2014 elections under the Umbrella for Democratic Change ticket and walloped Reaboka Mbulawa of the BDP.
“The delegates insisted that for Seametso to be part of the congress he had to apologise first for the 2014 incident,” said the source who went on to explain that sensing possible violence, Seametso, took off his trademark hat and apologised.
“He apologised in a winding manner, choosing rather to emphasize the need to unite the region, and avoiding to address the Tawana issue directly.”
Defending himself Seametso said the Tawana issue was brought up by a defensive small group, which was frightened that he would bar them from the congress for a pending case of indiscipline.
“They wanted to use 2014 elections controversy as an excuse to attack me and deflect attention from their pending issue of flouting procedure before the congress.
“We did however manage to control the situation and move on with the congress,” explained Seametso.
Meanwhile, the North West Regional Chairman, Reaboka Mbulawa refused to comment on the matter except to say internal party matters should be kept internal.
“Whoever said such has seriously contravened and violated Congress rules. A Congress is a platform where delegates individually have a democratic freedom of expression and it’s conducted in a manner like a council or parliamentary session. The Congress determined how things are said and done including freedom of speech. All proceeding are sealed and ends within the walls of that venue but I can assure you no one was barred from airing their opinion and any such opinion is a frank deliberation and such is protected and cannot be discussed outside Congress,” said Mbulawa.
