Segokgo: a victim of greed or astute politician?

South East District Council Chairman Phenyo Segokgo is currently torn between joining Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Botswana National Front (BNF). Segokgo had promised to announce his next political home this past Monday but to no avail. He was expelled from BMD last year, along with then party president Ndaba Gaolathe. Segokgo disclosed this week in an interview with The Midweek Sun that he is currently weighing which party between BMD and BNF to join. He said his choice will be informed by the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) February 2018 congress which will make resolutions concerning some wards in Tlokweng including the one he currently holds.

“After a lengthy discussion with my Councillors we agreed that since my ward is a BMD ward, I shouldn’t defect to any political party within the UDC because this will reduce my chances of contesting in the coming general elections. “The UDC congress will decide on the ward allocation on the 24th of February 2018 and my ward Sefoke is one of the disputed council wards including two others in Tlokweng where some councillors defected from BMD to BNF,” he explained. He continued that the BMD insists that the wards are theirs on the principle of incumbency which still makes him a UDC member and in the event BMD is allocated the wards he will have no choice but to contest under their ticket.“The issue here is the bigger picture, not individual parties and I believe that UDC will come out of the congress much stronger and ready to take power in 2019,” he concluded. Segokgo was widely believed to be on his way to team up with his former BMD colleagues at the Alliance for Progressives (AP) but was uncomfortable that the party being new and currently outside the UDC, he would not retain his seat in the next general election.

He was also threatened with a motion of no confidence as SEDC Chairperson should he join AP, a position he dearly wants to continue holding onto. He has thus been left with no choice but to dump the idea of joining the AP altogether, to ensure his political survival.