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'BCP only party ready to lead'

Taolo Lucas launching Letlhakeng candidate Meshack Tshenyego
Taolo Lucas launching Letlhakeng candidate Meshack Tshenyego

Despite having only competed once at the constituency polls in 2014 where it performed poorly, the BCP is confident it can bag the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) strongholds as part of its target of 31 constituencies amongst them Letlhakeng constituency. Interestingly, the party will be represented by Mmantshwabisi councillor, Meshack Tshenyego, a radical politician who dumped the BDP after a prolonged battle with the incumbent, Liakat Kablay.

The duo even went to court after Kablay filed a threat-to-kill case which was eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. Various BCP speakers at Tshenyego and his 10 council candidates' launch in Letlhakeng on Saturday boasted of being the only organised party. The BDP is yet to hold its primary elections after having recently announced candidates for Bulela Ditswe.

On the other hand, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) are still dealing with primary elections. Performing the launch, the party’s vice president Taolo Lucas said they were confident that their Kweneng Regional chairperson Duke Molelekeng had worked hard to have the party represented in 10 constituencies in the region. He said the BCP is currently spread all over the country and the party's message resonates with Batswana. “Everywhere you go and mention the BCP, people pay attention because we are a party with a vision of where we want to take this country.

Where there is no vision, there is corruption,” Lucas said. “We have come up with a 10-point agenda stating what we would prioritise when we take over. BDP is still talking about Bulela Ditswe. They are yet to discuss their manifesto. On the other hand, the UDC is a circus. A month ago, they said in two weeks, their manifesto would be out. They are now calling on people to submit their thoughts.” As result, Lucas said their two competitors, the UDC and the BDP, are not ready for elections. “Diparty tse pedi tse, UDC le BDP, go lebega gore tota ga di a ipaakanyetsa ditlhopho tsa gompieno ka gore they have no vision.

Ga bana manifesto, ga bana sepe se e leng gore ha ba bua le lona gore le ikwadise, ba ka se le direla. Ke diparty hela di a pholetha... bapholethi ba diparty tse pedi tse. Di a thula thulana diparty tse. Masisi o thula thulana le Boko, go a pholethiwa, go lefifi,” he said. Amongst other things, Lucas said their priority is job creation, adding they intend to create 300,000 jobs by the year 2029. He said Kweneng and Letlhakeng were most affected by poverty as there were no job opportunities. The BCP contested in the constituency in 2014 and managed only 764 votes through Kebofentse Phetolo.

Kablay of the BDP won with 5,265 votes while Gordon Mokgwathi of the UDC garnered 4,713 votes. Independent candidates Anderson Mathibe and Mothusi Letlakela got 108 and 64 votes respectively. In 2019, Kablay retained the constituency by 6,129 votes and UDC (which included the BCP then) through Ontathile Selatlho, got 4,234. BPF’s Alfred Molapo got 289 votes while AP, through Phenyo Dinake, got 624 votes. Independent candidate Agisanyang Ramotswai got 1,195 votes.