The Molefhabangwe Shocker

The weeks following the elections have been more of shocking series of events than anything else. First it was the re-appointment of Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe as vice President when a lot of pundits didn’t even give him a single chance to going back and becoming the country’s second in command. Then came the announcement of the speaker of the national assembly which was given to Margaret Nasha, first female speaker in the country’s history which was a great move in the President’s part as a way of empowering women.

The biggest bombshell of all came last week when it was announced that Robert Molefhabangwe has left the Botswana National Front(BNF) where he made his name for the Botswana Democratic Party(BDP) which is the ruling party. In all Molefhabangwe left the BNF a while back when he was expelled from the Party because he publicly expressed an interest in contesting for the position of Party President with Otsweletse Moupo. He was accused of making some uncharitable comments about the quality of the party’s leadership, something that obviously did not go down well with those whom he criticised & the whole BNF leadership. Following the suspension and expulsion of some party members in the past year, the party leadership was said to be under pressure to show evenhandedness, thats why they dealt with Molefhabangwe this way. Immediately after that announcement he revealed that he is looking to find a new political home.

Molefhabangwe rose to the front of politics at BNF when he was member of parliament for Gaborone South West, where he used to keep the executive on their toes with his well researched and well debated motions that won the support of his House colleagues from across the political divide. One of his biggest achievements was when he stood in front of a that big bulldozer in Tsolamosese as the then Minister of Lands, Jacob Nkate was busy demolition houses in the area saying the people had illegally occupied the land. Since that time he became a darling of the people and the media. He served two terms in parliament as a member of the BNF and was hoping to start a third on the other side of this year’s general election where he stood as an independent candidate. Molefhabangwe stood as an independent candidate only to lose to the BDP’s Botsalo Ntuane.

Molefhabangwe is a very talented artist, as a sculptor and painter whose works more than qualify to be part of most art galleries around. He is also a very intelligent legislator who is rumored to speak more than 10 languages, and whenever he took to the Parliament floor, he found it hard to resist the urge to occasionally color his debates with the odd Latin phrase or two. The former MP is also a very religious man as a catholic.

News of his defection to the BDP came as a shock to many of his faithful admirers.He was dismissed by many as a blast from the past before but now the rumourmill has it that he is ear marked for the Gaborone Mayoral Position which he will attain when he becomes a special elected councillor & then he will be challenging Ntuane for the Gaborone South West constituency in 2014. The ruling party have been celebrating his move as a big catch because when he was in the opposition he was a thorn on their side. But whatever happens between now & 2014, dont write out the flamboyant politician popurlaly known as Molf.