Parties in a case in which Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President Dumelang Saleshando and Secretary General Goretetse Kekgonegile were suing the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) over their suspension from the coalition have agreed to settle the matter out of court.
The two were suspended from the (UDC) in June 2022 for reportedly tarnishing the name and image of the UDC and failing to apologise for doing so even after they were required to do by the UDC national executive committee. The three months’ suspension which later elapsed was then extended indefinitely with the UDC arguing that the extension was because the duo had challenged their suspensions in a court of law.
Saleshando and Kekgonegile then through their lawyer, Martin Dingake of Dingake Law partners challenged the suspension demanding for it to be declared unlawful, wrongful and invalid because they were not members of UDC. They also demanded an order directing UDC President Duma Boko and UDC to pay the costs of the application.
In an interview, Kekgonegile confirmed that they have agreed to settle the matter out of court with each party paying for its own costs. According to him, the case is of no value to the BCP as its recent annual conference held in Tutume resolved that they will not be part of UDC.
He further indicated that since the case was intended to correct governance issues within the UDC there is no need to do so as they have since left the coalition.
“We were confident of a win in court but we resolved to utilise our energy and resources in more progressive and beneficial matters,” Kekgonegile said.
Kekgonegile further revealed that with their vision to win state power in 2024, they have established a likeminded coalition partnership with Botswana Labour Party (BLP).
The case was heard before Maun High Court Judge Godfrey Nthomiwa.
In a previous interview, Saleshando said that their main aim of challenging the suspension was for the court to also have a look at Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)’s constitution. Efforts to get a comment from the UDC were not successful.
