He said he did not know anything about the office. “Maybe the house belongs to Masitara. You must ask the campaign manager about that house,” he said.
But yesterday, Masitara’s campaign manager, Segaetsho Garekwe said the party has rented the house to campaign for the by-election. He said they were not coordinating the campaign from the BDP headquarters because there is no space to accommodate them. “We have a team of many people and the head office is just too small,” he said. He denied that the campaign office has been rented by Masitara - businessman-cum-philanthropist.
He added that it was important to have an office to coordinate their campaign.
However, he said, they do not have full time staff at the office. He said most people assisting at the office are volunteers and only one staff member has been deployed from the party secretariat. Besides the sparsely furnished house, which serves as the office, there is also a marquee tent at Masitara’s campaign headquarters. The office has catering services.
Garekwe said it is not easy to tell their budget for the campaign because there are always incidental expenses. However, Masitara is known to be spending lavishly on his campaign.
Meanwhile, Serema has denied claims that the BDP is not fully behind Masitara’s campaign because party heavyweights have not been addressing his rallies. There have been reports that some prominent BDP members are snubbing Masitara while others associate him with the Nkate/Merafhe faction.
“The party is fully behind Masitara’s campaign. He is a BDP member of good standing. He has been vetted by us,” Serema said.
He disclosed that they are going to hold two star rallies this weekend which will be addressed by Vice President and BDP chairman, Ian Khama and Foreign Affairs Minister Mompati Merafhe.
Serema said unlike the Botswana National Front (BNF), prominent party members did not start their campaigns. He said they wanted the campaign to culminate in a climax and this is why they are bringing party chiefs at the end.
He defended Masitara from claims that he has been behaving like an independent candidate. He said Masitara has been allowed to produce his manifesto because he is contesting a by-election.
