11 Jul 2017

Acting Botswana National Front (BNF) president, Mr Prince Dibeela has expressed hope for political stability and a more unified Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) party following internal rifts within the party.

Addressing a press conference at BNF House in Gaborone recently, he said BMD which is a constituent party for Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) was going through internal struggles and they could not intervene as the constitution of the movement dictated that they could only do so when invited.

“However we wait in anticipation for something new to emerge out of the struggle,” he said.

Meanwhile, BNF secretary general, Mr Moeti Mohwasa said preparations were underway to hold the BNF last annual conference scheduled for Kang from July 15-18 as the party prepared for selection of general elections candidates in primary elections.

Mr Mohwasa said the conference would be convened to receive reports from the regions, the treasurer, the secretary general and the president.

He said the conference which would be held under the theme: “Ensuring BNF Unity Now and UDC victory in 2019” would also see the BNF women’s league share how they would resuscitate their structures to improve performance.

He said the official opening of the conference would be held on July 16 where BNF president, Mr Duma Boko would address delegates.

Further, the secretary general said they were expecting other political parties in the region to grace the event such as African National Congress and  South African Communist Party who he said had already confirmed attendance.

Other invited parties, he said, were COSATU, FRELIMO, SWAPO, MPLA, PUDEMO, and Communist Party of Swaziland.

In an interview after the press conference on progress of grassroots unity of UDC constituent parties and what BNF had done so far, Mr Dibeela said discussions were going on how political constituency wards would be allocated amongst parties.

He said they continued to hold rallies as a collective to instill solidarity of the umbrella parties. 

“It’s very rare for the other party to hold a rally without inviting the other. We have held political education in some parts of the country and all umbrella parties were involved,” he said. ENDs