Lekopanye Mooketsi
6 July 2009
The MP for Gaborone West South, Robert Molefhabangwe ,who has been expelled by the Botswana National Front (BNF), will not contest the general elections as an independent candidate.
Molefhabangwe made this undertaking during a meeting he addressed at the Gaborone West community hall on Thursday evening. He would rather join smaller parties like PUSO, the Botswana People's Party (BPP) and MELS because the main political organisations have already fielded candidates.
Molefhabangwe said he could not stand as an independent candidate because he has always been an advocate of opposition unity. He has not decided on which party to join. But he said it would not be a wise move for him to stand as an independent candidate.
"We have not agreed with my family members and advisers on which party I am going to join," said the political firebrand. "I could contest under any party like PUSO, MELS or BPP".
The leader of PUSO, Nehemiah Modubule, attended the meeting. Modubule, who is also the MP for Lobatse, was also expelled by BNF.
Although the BNF leadership said he could still appeal his expulsion within two weeks, Molefhabangwe said he was not going to fall for that trap. He said if he appealed he would be giving undue credit to the BNF leadership.
The outspoken legislator said he might only appeal against a case which has been heard. In his case, he said, the matter has not been heard.
"My case has not been heard, so what would I be appealing against," he asked rhetorically.
Molefhabangwe said he is not taking the BNF to court. However, he did not rule out that possibility in the future. He is going to map the way forward with his team of advisers.
The outspoken legislator vowed that he was going to put up a bitter fight. "I am ready for anything. I am prepared for a battle. I will always stand for the truth no matter what happens," he declared.
Molefhabangwe was expelled by the BNF last week for alleged insubordination. The party leadership claimed that on numerous occasions, the MP failed to turn up when he was summoned for disciplinary hearings. He was supposed to answer charges in connection with interviews that he granted local newspapers castigating the BNF leadership.
But Molefhabangwe has denied that he refused to attend the hearings. He claimed that the BNF leadership only wrote to him once on December 7.
He said the BNF leadership never wrote him a number of letters summoning him for a disciplinary hearing. He added that the copies of letters that were passed to journalists were fake.
"The person who signed the letters is a fraudster. If they were signed by Otsweletse Moupo, he is a fraudster. Whoever wrote the letters is a criminal of the worst order," the fiery MP charged.
"It is all fabricated lies. Any letter which is addressed to me by the BNF leadership and not dated December 7 is fraudulent," he went on.
He said even the Gaborone West South constituency committee was only given copies of letters at the community hall on Wednesday.
"If the BNF leadership had a case, they should tell the truth and stop producing fake letters," he said.
Molefhabangwe said the BNF president Moupo, used to attack former BNF leader, Dr Kenneth Koma in the newspapers but he was never charged. But as the BNF leader, Moupo does not want the same thing to apply to him.
Molefhabangwe also denied that he owed the party monthly subscriptions. He said he paid his subscriptions in advance.
He related how his troubles with the BNF leadership started. He said he has been tormented in the party for the past 11 years.
He said one of the Central Committee members from his constituency has always been after him.
Molefhabangwe said after he was elected to Parliament in 1999, the Central Committee member and two others petitioned the clerk of the National Assembly claiming that he was neglecting the constituency. The three party members had written a letter that he should step down.
Molefhabangwe said this was just a month after he was elected MP. He later took legal action against those members.
The outspoken politician said the BNF leadership decided to take action against him because he had declared that he intended to contest for the party's presidential elections. Another reason was that he did not campaign for Moupo.
Molefhabangwe said he has never aligned himself with any faction within the BNF.
The MP said he has been accused of so many things. He said at some stage, he was accused of failing to buy a vehicle. He was also accused of refusing party members access to do BNF work in his constituency office.
Molefhabangwe said when the BNF leadership held a public rally in his constituency recently, his presence was not even acknowledged.
For his part, Modubule urged BNF members to do something because the party has gone astray. He said people should not just be sitting on the fence when the leadership is messing up the movement. Modubule said it was high time people take the BNF leadership to task.
Other speakers pledged their support for Molefhabangwe. A member of the University of Botswana (UB) Student Represent Council (SRC) told the meeting that they are going to write to the BNF leadership to protest against Molefhabangwe's sacking.
Responding, Molefhabangwe said he did not believe that he had been expelled until on Wednesday when he was kicked out of a BNF meeting which was held at the Gaborone West community hall.
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