After months of bruising internal battles, suspensions, expulsions and a bitter leadership struggle that threatened to tear the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) apart, the party has finally brokered a fragile peace agreement and set its sights on a decisive elective congress in July.
The breakthrough emerged from a mediation process held in Serowe recently, where rival factions agreed to lay down their political weapons and work together towards rebuilding the party ahead of what is expected to be a fiercely contested elective congress during the President’s Day holidays in July.
The mediation, led by Ambassador Olebile Gaborone and Mogomotsi Goms Kaboeamodimo, brought together all major factions that have been locked in a protracted power struggle within the former ruling party splinter movement.
In a statement issued after the talks, the mediators said the dialogue was marked by frank exchanges and an unexpected willingness among rivals to find common ground.
“We are pleased that all of them attended,” the mediators said. “We must commend all who attended the mediation for the disciplined and orderly manner in which we conducted the dialogue, and for the very candid, intense and open submissions that each of the parties made.”
At the centre of the compromise is the appointment of retired Lieutenant General Gaolatlhe Galebotswe as Interim President of the party. He will head a newly constituted 18-member interim committee tasked with preparing for the elective congress.
The agreement represents the strongest attempt yet to halt a crisis that has seen the BPF consumed by internal divisions, court battles and competing claims to legitimacy.
At the centre of the compromise is the appointment of retired Lieutenant General Gaolatlhe Galebotswe as Interim President of the party. He will head a newly constituted 18-member interim committee tasked with preparing for the elective congress.
The committee will draw equal representation from the three major camps involved in the dispute – the Baisago Committee, the faction aligned to Member of Parliament Lawrence Ookeditse and the group led by Galebotswe himself.
The mediators said the decision was taken “for the sake of peace and reconciliation.”
The agreement also places the preparation of the elective congress under the supervision of a committee of councillors working jointly with the mediators until delegates gather to elect a substantive leadership.
The mediators stressed that the process was conducted with due regard to both the BPF constitution and a recent High Court judgment that has influenced the party’s governance disputes.
“It is our earnest trust and hope that all parties to the mediation will commit to and pay due respect to these resolutions,” the statement said.
The mediators urged an immediate end to inflammatory public exchanges and unauthorised statements on social media and other public platforms.
They said; “Until the Elective Congress is held, we urge all parties and members of the BPF in general to refrain from unauthorised public statements, including inflammatory posts on all public media platforms.”
The mediation team also acknowledged the participation of former BPF president Mephato Reggie Reatile, whose presence underscored the significance of the reconciliation effort.
