UDC March For Water
Sharon Mathala | Monday September 7, 2015 15:46
The main opposition, though stressing that the march was not a political move, had multitudes donned in the UDC colours and was supported by the smaller opposition Botswana Congress Party and the trade unions under the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU). The demonstrators, led by among others, the UDC secretary general, Ndaba Gaolathe, the Gaborone Central MP, Phenyo Butale and fellow opposition parliamentarians, seemed to be intent on delivering their message in the cold wet morning.
They carried political messages of demand and sang provocative songs pointed at the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and its leadership. President Ian Khama was the toast with some of the placards reading: ‘Khama le sa go kaila kaila re batla metsi’, ‘WUC e kae Thothi re e somarele’, ‘We want water not talk’.
When handing the petition to an official from the Office of the President, Gobe Pitso, the UDC announced that it would hold a massive peaceful demonstration on Wednesday where they planned to hand over a petition on the water crisis to President Khama.
The party expressed disappointment that the President did not receive the demonstrators in person but sent a low level officer.
“We expected the President to be here, but instead they chose to send a representative, I hear they had said they would send an intern to do the job, it just goes to show how serious they take this issue,” said Johnson Motswarakgole, veteran unionist and organising secretary of the UDC partner trade union, BOFEPUSU.