The Voice (Francistown)
Francinah Baaitse
15 April 2008
Francistown — The opposition Botswana National Front in Mogoditshane launched a political attack against the new president of Botswana, Ian Khama.
The revulsion against the President's choice of the vice president who is also an ex army man, Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, were expressed at a political rally held in Tsolamosese over the weekend. Sefetoleng Ramaselwana, MC for the rally, repeatedly shouted into the microphones that Botswana's "democracy is under threat", saying Batswana should not be surprised when some day the country's highly held democracy comes to an abrupt end. To Ramaselwana, Botswana is now a military state. "They have started a new system where they remove their uniforms first and then come masked as politicians." Another party leader, Dipono Modumo, warned against the fear to criticize the new leader, saying, "We cannot avoid attacking him because he is a politician. In politics there are counter attacks." The BNF parliamentary candidate for Mogoditshane, Charles Charles, gave Khama only 100 days to prove his worth. "We are giving him three months to show us what he can do for us. We will be watching him."
Meanwhile, the party's Information and Publicity Secretary, Moeti Mohwasa, has cried foul over the alleged trashing of their stories by Botswana Television. Mohwasa said in a statement this week that on the several occasions that BTV attended their events, they withheld the airing of their comments aimed against the ruling Botswana Democratic Party. He cited the recent press conference, at which the party leader was questioning the principle of automatic succession to the presidency.
"The BNF is shocked that up to now the story has not been aired despite several assurances by the station manager, after we complained, that it will be aired."
Mohwasa alleged that it was not the first time BTV spiked stories involving the opposition. "It is now becoming a trend to trash stories which in the view of the BTV management are detrimental to the policies of the BDP," said Mohwasa.
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