Botswana’s ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), is beset by divisions and internal legal battles ahead of the crucial general election on Friday.
The latest in the party’s internal wrangles has seen suspended BDP secretary general Gomolemo Motswaledi file a lawsuit against President Ian Khama for allegedly acting beyond his powers by recalling Motswaledi from standing as a parliamentary candidate in the upcoming polls due to indiscipline.
Served with a 60-day suspension by Khama in August, Motswaledi cannot contest the Gaborone Central seat on the BDP ticket and has been replaced by Kgomotso Mogami.
Khama’s suspension of Motswaledi is seen as a show of authority by the BDP party president against party members critical of him. Khama has defended his actions, saying: ”I become firm when the need arises.”
Motswaledi is widely thought to be a member of ”Barata-Phathi” (”we love the party”), a BDP faction opposed to Khama’s style of leadership. Former presidents Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae have reportedly stepped in to quell the infighting and urge cooperation between the feuding factions.
BDP insiders said this week that Motswaledi’s lawsuit served a personal agenda rather than the interests of the party. A source warned: ”Don’t be shocked if others break away, as happened with Cope [the Congress of the People] in South Africa.”
Last month the high court rejected Motswaledi’s lawsuit against Khama, ruling that a head of state cannot be sued in both his ”personal and private capacity”.
The case has raised questions about Botswana’s constitution, which protects the president from prosecution for offences committed while in office. In his judgment Chief Justice Julian Nganunu said: ”The constitution has granted to a sitting president of the Republic of Botswana immunity against criminal prosecution for all activities done both in his private and official capacities. The same provision … also grants him total immunity against civil suits in his private capacity.”
Botswana’s opposition parties and civil society have expressed profound misgivings about the power wielded by the president, seeing it as the basis of a dictatorship. ”A president can do as he pleases and the courts can do nothing about it. What kind of constitution is this?” asked a senior BDP member who preferred anonymity.
Speaking to the German Press Agency this week, Khama hit back, saying: ”I didn’t make that constitution. I didn’t make the laws. If they say the president should be above the law, [that] is something which I would welcome as a debate. At the same time, a president should not spend his time fighting lawsuits.”
A member of Motswaledi’s legal team, Sidney Pilane, confirmed an urgent appeal was filed last week against the high court ruling, signalling that fresh tensions lie ahead for the BDP. The case will be heard by five non-resident justices of the Court of Appeal.