Thus far, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has held 16 by-elections whose results speak to an enfeebled ruling party after losing three by-elections in Gaborone and its environs and more around the country.
When the party lost the Ledumadumane by-election, the loss was simply censured on the warring factions of the BDP in the largest Mogoditshane constituency as the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) turned the tables and won the ward.
Still smarting from the Ledumadumane loss and as if that was not enough, the UDC continued with its winning spree as the BDP grip continued to loosen. The UDC snatched another by-election held at Bophirima ward in the Gaborone Bonnington South constituency.
In the past immediate weekend, the UDC displayed its undoubted supremacy as it snatched another BDP ward and convincingly won the Bosele ward in the Gaborone Bonnington North constituency.
All in all, the opposition has won a total of 12 wards across the country out of a possible 16 post the 2019 General Election. The breakdown shows that the BDP has won four wards, the Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) have won one ward each whilst the UDC has garnered a solid 10 wards in all. The victories of the opposition parties in the past by-elections suggest something is definitely wrong as the ruling party is presenting an image of a party struggling to defend the wards it won four years ago.
The UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa is elated that his party continues to do well despite challenges in the opposition bloc.
His take is that people are communicating through the by-elections that they will only show their support where they see parties working together for a common goal, that is, under the UDC arrangement. “It’s showing that people want change,” thundered the excited Mohwasa.
Since the past by-elections are spread across the country, to Mohwasa, it shows that the UDC is set for victory in the 2024 polls. He noted that even the AP victory at Lentsweletau ward came at a time when there was a Memorandum of Understanding between the AP and the UDC.
The UDC leadership has even concluded to train its cadres after accepting a group known as Badibela Tlhopho on how to monitor the elections. The party wants to build capacity to know from the word go how many people have registered to monitor possible ‘rigging’ of the elections that the UDC cried foul over in the last general election. This time around, the party does not want to leave anything to chance.
The UDC protested some election results especially in the constituencies around Gaborone and others citing ‘rigging’ in the process of the elections, but lost.
In a previous interview, Mohwasa, said he was impressed by the opposition resurgence as the coalition partners are doing very well and set to usher in the glory days.
In Mohwasa’s view, the 2019 results of the general election did not represent the feelings of the people. He was convinced that it is becoming even clearer that the BDP did not win the elections by the margin they did. In other words, he says the BDP victory was simply a result of ‘rigging’. “The elections were rigged,” he confirmed, echoing the concerns of the UDC post the 2019 General Election. The UDC has not reached where the party leadership wishes it could be, but the party spokesperson is elated that all indications are that people have confidence in the UDC project now. He seems to concur with BDP’s Kagelelo Kentse that it is the societal ills dogging the nation that are responsible for the backlash that sees the BDP duly punished.
He says it is a good thing for the opposition to be voted ahead of the ruling BDP but wished there could be unity in diversity in the opposition so that, “we could reach a point where we have a working relationship with the hope that everything shall fall into place.”
Some months ago, the BDP conceded by-election defeats, which the party spokesperson, Kentse attributed to a lot of reasons. He was quick to indicate that the political atmosphere was now proving to be toxic after losing badly when his party witnessed its previous victories turning to a nought.
Kentse told Mmegi then that they might sound like a broken record to be blaming the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their accelerated losses of by-elections in a short space of time. He feels that the results are a reflection of depressed voters who are seemingly all out to punish the ruling party.
“It seems the voters who trusted us with their votes previously need motivation of some sort now to continue with us,” he had explained in a previous interview.
The BDP took the losses seriously as according to Kentse, it was the case of voters giving them some signal to seriously introspect and get to the bottom of the matters. The BDP leadership, according to its worried spokesperson, “listens all the time and gets feedback from the people”. He promised that they will continue to do everything possible and listen to the concerns of the masses despite the battering they continue to get.
In the previous interview after the losses of other by-elections, Kentse considered the country to be experiencing a crisis of some sort as taxes are generally up, fuel is up, electricity tariffs are up, “and people are definitely angry at all this and it seems it’s protest time from the masses and they are hitting us where it hurts the most now.
“Surely, it’s the effects of COVID-19 that are hitting hard on the masses who are already grappling with unemployment and other societal ills and as the party in government, no escape for us, we are punished,” bemoaned Kentse. He promised that his party was doing everything possible to cushion the effects of the societal ills, albeit it’s proving to be a tall order as it cannot all be reversed in the blink of an eye.
Just this week, Kentse told Mmegi that voters have spoken after the BDP won the Grootelagte by-election and lost the Bosele ward and emphasised that there was nothing really obdurate happening in the party.
“In as much as we haven’t evaluated the by-elections results, which is an internal matter, that we will not share with the media,” he stated.
He thanked those who partook in the by-elections indicating that his party was not very worried although concerned.
“This might be a signal of a problem in the party but the numbers show that it is not alarming,” he surmised the weekend loss and victory of by-elections.
Meanwhile, the University of Botswana (UB) senior lecturer in political science Dr Kebapetse Lotshwao explained to Mmegi this week that the BDP could be punished by voters because it made a number of promises in the 2019 General Election, which unfortunately, “it doesn’t seem they have attended to a lot of them.” He attributed the many losses to a party that is failing its people. He cited corruption, which has hit our shores as one of the failed promises; service delivery generally hasn’t improved; job creation especially for the youth is still a problem, state of infrastructure especially roads in towns and major villages is appalling, garbage collection is not done in time and people are generally unhappy about the BDP’s botches. He raised scarcity of medicines especially in government facilities as worrisome.
“These things together, present the BDP as a failure in the face of people who expected a lot from its 2019 promises as contained in the party manifesto,” Lotshwao explained, indicating that the opposition is taking advantage of the ruling party’s expressed let-downs.
