The BDP got 16 council seats over the weekend in the three Francistown constituencies. The opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) got two in Francistown South where elections for Boikhutso Ward were postponed because the party symbol for one of the contestants, Motlatsi Molapisi of the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), was erroneously omitted.
Three BDP councillors have been mentioned in the mayoral race. They are Rebecca Nshakazhogwe of Central Ward and James Kgalajwe of Satellite North both from the Francistown East constituency and Ignatius Moswaane of Monarch South, from Francistown West. Nshakazhogwe was a nominated councillor in the 1999-2004 council and proved to be a good debater. She has been named as one of the favourites for the mayor’s seat. As a gender activist, she definitely enjoys the support of women politicians within the party and outside it. She was a trade unionist during her employ at the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC). It is believed the gender card gives her a competitive edge as Francistown has never had a woman mayor.
The FCC has previously had four women deputy mayors, Amine Jasset, Margaret Mosojane, Rose Thompson and lately Angelinah Sengalo.
The second candidate Kgalajwe is a former member of the Botswana Defence Force, and now runs a security company. Politically, very little is known about him. Kgalajwe and Nshakazhogwe are both from the Francistown East constituency. Normally, the BDP mayoral elections are based on two major things - gender and constituency balance. It then follows that one of the two will have to step down to allow the other to compete for the positions of mayor or deputy mayor.
From the Francistown West, another businessman, Moswaane is in the race. During the BDP primary elections and the parliamentary race for the Francistown West constituency, Moswaane was credited with having ensured that the then embattled legislator Tshelang Masisi was re-elected. He was Masisi’s campaign manager. He has stood by Masisi even when the situation was very tough for him. It was during one of the campaigns for Masisi that he landed in hot soup when the former city mayor and Masisi’s nemesis, Peter Ngoma, slapped him with a P250,000 law suit for defamation. To many, he is viewed as a master strategist who has survived the BDP’s internal wars. He is still young and intelligent.
Those in the know have warned that the battle for the mayoral chain is not going to be an easy one. The BDP emerged from the elections bitterly divided by factionalism. Francistown South councillors are reportedly not in the race and they are most likely to give their support to candidates from Francistown West.
