06 Jul 2016

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) secretary general, Mr Botsalo Ntuane has called upon the opposition members to apologise following what he called baseless utterances.  

Speaking during a monthly BDP press briefing, Mr Ntuane said the deputy president of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang has to apologise following a statement in which he said the ferry at Mohembo was owned by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

He said the allegation was “completely false and has no basis.

“The ferry in question and all ferries in Botswana are owned by government,” he said.

He said the BDP had issued a statement refuting the allegations and called upon Dr Gobotswang to retract his utterances and tender an apology to the President.

However, he said their statement was not given the attention it deserved.

“But strangely, coverage of our statement was low key and even ignored by some media houses who ran with the initial ferry story,” he said.

With regard to Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone who defected from the BCP and joined the BDP, Mr Ntuane said no one had been bought.

He said Mr Arone applied for Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) funding and was subsequently assisted as any Motswana could, including those from the opposition parties.

Mr Ntuane said government schemes were available to every Motswana and former MPs such as the late Joseph Kavindama, Gibson Nshimwe and John Toto had benefited from CEDA loans to venture into the hospitality industry.

“The nation ought to know that many opposition activists also benefited from government empowerment schemes such as CEDA and others,” he said.

Mr Ntuane further dismissed the Umbrella for Democracy Change (UDC), saying only government could assist the BCL.

He said the copper/nickel company was experiencing difficulties which emanated from plummeting commodity prices and government was looking into ways it could bail the company as it had done so in the past.

“There is absolutely nothing UDC can do to assist BCL. They cannot offer any financial guarantees, tax exemptions, loan guarantees or any form of bailout, which is what the BDP government has been doing every time BCL finds itself in distress,” he said.

He said the workers must not be misled by the rhetoric and political opportunism of UDC, because it would not improve their situation.Talking about the Trade Dispute Bill, he said the BDP government fully supported and endorsed it during the Caucus and welcomed the idea of classifying teachers as essential services.

The Bill was debated in Parliament after being tabled by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs.

Mr Ntuane said they had also resolved that the teaching cadre be removed from the Public Service Act.

He further lambasted the Botswana National Front Youth League (BNFYL) leader, Mr Richard Kumoekae for his “unguarded and often excitable remarks after he called for an uprising and civil unrest in Botswana.”

Mr Ntuane said there was no need for civil unrest as Batswana were given every five years to vote for the party of their choice.

Meanwhile, he revealed that the BDP would hold its special congress on July 22-23 at Mogoditshane Senior Secondary School. They expected all 57 branches to be in attendance as well as 14 regions, including the newly elected regions of Kweneng East, Kweneng West, Southern and South West regions. ENDS