Former presidents, Sir Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae are expected to meet President Ian Khama today to discuss the issue of suspended ruling party secretary general Gomolemo Motswaledi (pictured).The meeting is another attempt to bring peace in the strife-torn Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Motswaledi was suspended by Khama for 60 days and recalled from contesting the Gaborone Central parliamentary seat. Khama said he punished Motswaledi because he is indisciplined. He explained that Motswaledi undermined his authority as party leader. The suspension of Motswaledi is the high point of BDP rivalry that saw the Barata-phathi faction whitewashing Khama’s allies in the A-Team at party elections last month. Since then, Khama has been by-passing the central committee in running the party. He clashed with Motswaledi and the central committee when he instructed the law firm of Collins, Newman and Co to defend him against accusations that he is acting unilaterally in party affairs. Motswaledi, with the backing of the central committee, wasted little time in issuing a hard-hitting rejoinder to the lawyers to the utter annoyance of Khama.
Since the Motswaledi suspension became public, Masire and Mogae have held a series of meetings with Khama to plead with him to rescind his decision. Reliable sources say the two presidents made progress over the weekend in the attempt to reconcile Khama and Motswaledi. It is said Khama is ready to rescind his decision on condition that Motswaledi apologises to him. However, reports say Motswaledi has declined to apologise.
Mmegi Online
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