No Celebrations As BDP Retains Tshimoyapula

Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday October 9, 2017 16:46

 

The BDP candidate won with 469 votes ahead of Umbrella for Democratic Change’s (UDC) Modala Modala with 318 and the independent candidate, Chibuya Dabutha gaining only 63.

The ruling party had decided on the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ model to identify the candidate, but this did not go down well with many of its electorates because the winner was not their preferred candidate. The win came as a relief as it was evidently unclear whether BDP would easily walk away with this one.The opposition on the other hand capitalised on this to attract electorate into its folds. Hope was that, as it once happened with Malatswai and Khwee, Tshimoyapula would prove again that Bangwato territory can easily be penetrated by the opposition. However this was not to be.

The win did not attract much celebration, as it is normally the case in any elections. It was also evident amongst ruling party members during the day of the elections that they were not very hopeful of victory and could be heard complaining about the choice of the candidate and the criteria used. BDP campaign manager, Solomon Dikgang confirmed the disgruntlement in an interview, that the party had vetted four candidates to run for the by-election, but during consultations with electorates in the ward, the party realised that there was no need to go for primary elections given that there was no time. “There was no need for Bulela Ditswe because the party is already preparing for the major one ahead of the general elections. Even if we were to go for Bulela Ditswe, the person who would win would be one of the four.

It was the candidates’ decision to go for yes or no model,” he said. He added that the time was too short to spend any on scrutinising voters’ rolls and other arrangements. He said it is a pity that the opposition sought to capitalise on this yet they also had their own disagreements that gave birth to an independent candidate. “The problems and concerns of Tshimoyapula people are understood better by the ruling party not the opposition. We also capitalised on the fact that the opposition is divided,” he bluntly said. He insisted that the by-election was very powerful as it attracted many voters and was treated with seriousness as evidenced by the fact that political heavyweights were frequenting the ward to mobilise and conduct campaigns.

He also acknowledged that the entry of an independent candidate, a suspended Botswana Congress Party member (Dabutha), had an impact, even on the ruling party, on the outcome of the elections. BCP is now part of the UDC family, and the agreement is that opposition coalition members back the chosen candidate.

“We do not take her for granted. It’s a challenge. She has made inroads in the ward. We also take the UDC seriously. We will never be complacent,”Dikgang said.

He dismissed as baseless concerns by the opposition that government has failed to provide proper road to the village and said funds has been allocated and the project is at tendering stage. “We are following all the processes of delivering the project such as carrying out the designs and also compensations of people whose farms would have to make way for the project. We have explained this to the electorate and they understand,” he said.

UDC on the other hand put up a brave fight and the contest was very tight when counting started. However the BDP proved to be a bit stronger midway through counting as it gradually collected more votes. Even its camp had a hype and lively as compared to the ruling party camp. They were confident of a win given that they had also banked on the BDP disgruntlement to win more votes.

The UDC campaign manager Reggie Koaee said the approach that the BDP used to settle for the candidate was not what the electorate on the ground wanted because he said, they complained that he was difficult to sell to voters. “There is unhappiness within the ruling party camp and they have lost hope of retaining the ward,” he said. He also said the people of Majwanaadipitse and Tshimoyapula were not happy over lack of developments such as roads and that there is no electricity in Majwanaadipitse. He said these villages could be benefiting from spillovers from Serowe and decried that a medical doctor visits only once in a month while potable water supply also remains a challenge.

Dabutha’s campaign manager insisted she did not enter the race to affect the UDC numbers as others may view but had the zeal and the passion to represent the people of Majwanaadipitse and Tshimoyapula. He said Dabutha started campaigns immediately after the 2014 general elections.

The Tshimoyapula/Majwanaadipitse Ward also made history in that one of its polling stations did not attract any voters. Out of the 25 who registered at Shashane ward nobody voted hence the ballot box was returned empty to the counting centre. Observers did not even bother signing the verification form from that polling station. In Nakalakgama cattlepost only seven out of possible 25 voters cast their votes. Tshimoyapula Primary School registered the highest number of 301 votes cast followed Kgotla polling station with 297 and Majwanaadipitse and Molodi polling stations with 235 and 21 respectively.