Dr Dikoloti’s Goodhope-Mmathethe catch 22

 

President Mokgweetsi Masisi has suspended Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti for 60 days from the Bottswana Democratic Party (BDP) for alleged misconduct.

The BDP leadership has been having sleepless nights regarding how to remove Dr Dikoloti from being a hindrance to have the preferred candidate Minister of Finance Peggy Serame to represent the ruling party in the October 30th 2024 general election.

Trouble for Dr Dikoloti started after he won the BDP Goodhope-Mmathethe primary elections against Serame. Serame appealed the outcome to the Southern Regional Committee (SRC) which rejected the appeal and she approached the central committee.

The central committee then moved on and granted Serame the appeal. It is alleged that after intelligence revealed that Serame will not win the re-run, the central committee went on to recall Dr Dikoloti from the race and endorsed Serame’s candidature for the next month’s national polls.

This decision resulted in Dr Dikoloti approaching the Lobatse High Court to challenge the Central Committee decision. While Dr Dikoloti was waiting for his urgent application to be heard, the BDP moved swiftly and served him with a suspension letter.

His suspension is based on reports of alleged misconduct relating to circumstances surrounding conduct of primary elections in the Goodhope-Mmathethe Constituency.

Dr Dikoloti’s suspension comes after Masisi suspended for the same period the Goodhope-Mmanthethe deputy Chairperson for alleged primary elections misconduct. The deputy chairperson was suspended after she reported

that the returning officer for the Goodhope-Mmathethe primary elections failed to secure the ballots.

“In exercise of the powers conferred on me by article 34.1.6 and having determined that this is one of the exceptional circumstances in which I should exercise those powers, I hereby suspend you with immediate effect as a member of the party for a period of sixty (60) days pending investigation into the above allegations and/or disciplinary action in light of the reports made regarding your conduct,” President Masisi said.

According to sources, the 20th September 2024 was a very bad day for Goodhope-Mmathethe democrats as while Dr Dikoloti was busy preparing for a re-run which was supposed to be held on 21st September 2024, instead, he received a shocker as BDP CC slapped him with a letter which dislodged the constituency from him and gave it to Hon Serame on a silver platter.

“After thorough consultations, Dr Dikoloti has moved swiftly to defend people’s will against this undemocratic decision, the will of the people can't be trampled on like this that's why he has filed an urgent application to fight in the same corner with Goodhope-Mmathethe Democrats,” a source at the constituency said.

It is still not yet confirmed whether Dr Dikoloti will contest under any of the opposition parties or as an independent candidate, but it is clear that he will be contesting.