Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
13 October 2008
It has emerged that the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Appeals Committee abandoned hearing the case filed by former cabinet minister Tebelelo Seretse halfway.
The BDP Women's Wing boss is protesting her loss to cabinet minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi in the SeroweSouth primaries.
The chairman of the Appeals Committee attorney Isaac Seloko confirmed on Friday that they started hearing the case and called witnesses but no final determination was reached. "We stopped halfway, we had called some witnesses, but not all," Seloko said.
Monitor is informed that of all the appeals that were brought before the committee from the just concluded primary elections, only Seretse's case had witnesses.
BDP followers are mystified that after deciding to go ahead with the case, the Appeals Committee abandoned it half-way. The party announced last week that the case has been referred back to the regional committee. Some BDP followers are amazed that after gathering evidence from witnesses, the Seloko-led committee has now decided to take the case back to the regional committee. It is as if the highest committee is afraid of passing judgment on the matter.
However Seloko has absolved his committee from blame saying the Central Committee had the last word. He could not provide further explanation because he is not empowered to be the party spokesperson on such matters. He referred questions to the secretariat.
The official position from the BDP secretariat is that the case was referred back to the region, as a way of making sure that party procedures are followed. "She had feared that since the secretary general of the region is the husband to her opponent, the region might not give her a fair hearing. But we said, let the region handle the case. They know what to do in such cases," the BDP executive secretary Comma Serema said last week.
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