In a telephone interview, Tawana indicated that he has not joined any party and will only start considering his political future on June 15 as he is currently on 'sabbatical' leave. He is however adamant that he is done with the BDP. "I have served them with letters." He said the party has not tried to convince him to have a change of heart.
While Tawana, who is also the paramount chief of the Batawana is expected to have many suitors, he has claimed that no opposition party has approached him.
However, some sources have revealed that some opposition parties approached Tawana soon after he announced his resignation from the BDP.
He resigned from BDP following the stalemate between the government and striking civil servants after indicating that he was not happy with the manner in which the government was handling the public service strike.
This was not the first time Tawana had broken ranks with his former party in support of the civil servants. In the past, Tawana has been associated with the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). He attended the inaugural assembly at the Big Five Lodge where an idea to break away from the BDP was mooted.
In fact, he was one of the speakers who advocated for the formation of a new party. During that time, Tawana said he felt that the formation of a new party was the only way forward. He said he had even told the BDP President Ian Khama, that it was his last time to contest for elections under the BDP ticket. Tawana told the Big Five Lodge meeting every project that he has undertaken with Khama has failed.
Tawana said he could have stood against Khama for the BDP presidency during the Kanye congress in 2009. But by then the MP did not know the procedure for contesting for the BDP central committee positions.
However, after BMD was formed, Tawana did not defect with the other MPs to join the new party. When he was interviewed by one of the local newspapers Tawana said after five years, he does not want to tell his constituents that his only achievement was to form a new party.
However, he continues to be linked to the BMD. According to sources, Tawana failed at the last minute to attend a BMD rally in Maun last year that he was supposed to address.
There has also been information that Tawana and his wife had bought air tickets to attend the Maun rally. They had even bought the BMD regalia. However, according to sources, the Minister of Education, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi convinced Tawana and his wife not to join the newly formed party, on the eve of their departure. They ended up canceling the Maun trip. This is not the first time that Tawana has crossed paths with BDP.
In 2003, Tawana was vetted out from contesting the BDP parliamentary primaries for Maun West. This was after Tawana had urged Khama to desist from piloting Botswana Defence Force (BDF) airplanes. His message was not received well by the BDP leadership.
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