BCP pursues fraud charges against F/town West petitioners

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday December 5, 2013 18:04

 

The BCP president Dumelang Saleshando said his party is furthering its investigations into the fraudulent petition with a view of launching criminal charges against those behind the fraud.

“It appears that all the names of the petitioners were hand written by one or two persons and their signatures are very similar. In this regard, the BCP is working around the clock to have a hand writing expert examine the petition with a view to ascertaining the authenticity of the petitioners,” he said during a press conference to launch party’s ‘Democratic Alert No. 1 of 2013’ yesterday.

Saleshando said that a proclamation that postponed the by-elections from November 23 to January next year was ‘a big fraud’ as it was based on a fraudulent petition. He said people who came out with the fraudulent petition should be investigated, charged and prosecuted.  He said that the party shall insist on a thorough investigation and if the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and its candidate Ignatius Moswaane are found to have had a hand in this, they should be prosecuted for possible electoral fraud and be disqualified from contesting. The investigation will be extended to vice president Ponatshego Kedikilwe who signed the proclamation. 

Saleshando said facts at hand indicate that the BDP and its candidate may be implicated in this fraud.  “The BDP has demonstrated that it is prepared to stoop so low in its quest to win an election. The proclamation was effectively used to undermine the judiciary and subvert the rule of law,” he said.  He said President Ian Khama should be embarrassed that in an effort to defraud the electoral process, even dead people’s names were used to undermine judgments of the High Court.