BCP F/town primaries low-key affair
Chakalisa Dube | Monday August 21, 2023 06:00
The country’s second city is one of the areas where the BCP enjoys a strong presence, but unlike in the past the buildup to the primaries has been met with less enthusiasm.
The party recently issued a notice for primary election hopefuls to submit their applications. The call for applications will close at the end of August. Additionally, the BCP has set September 23-24 and October 7-8 as dates for its primary elections which will be used to decide candidates for the 2024 General Election. However, Mmegi has established that it is highly likely there would be no primaries for parliamentary positions due to lack of interest by BCP members. Francistown boasts three constituencies.
It was widely speculated that Vain Mamela would face stiff competition from First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) executive Lucky Bogopa in Francistown East. The BCP had on several occasions fielded attorney Morgan Moseki at the general election in Francistown East.
However, Moseki officially announced that he quit active politics after the 2019 polls when he lost to Buti Billy of the ruling party. Bogopa was widely viewed as favourite to defeat Mamela although the latter is considered to be a darling of the party executive. Reports have since emerged that Bogopa has decided against contesting the primaries. Bogopa was unavailable yesterday but has previously refused to discuss his reported candidacy in an interview with Mmegi, citing that he is not at liberty to comment on the issues. Bogopa a well-known BCP activist is said not be keen to let go of his plum job at FNBB, where he is employed as the Francistown branch manager in favour of fully pursuing politics.
On the other hand, Mamela who has contested the BCP primaries on several occasions has made it no secret that he wants to contest the primaries in Francistown East. In Francistown South indications are that David Tawele will also not be challenged for the primaries. He is said to be the only one who has shown interest to contest . He is not new to BCP primaries in Francistown South. He contested the BCP Francistown South primaries in 2014 and lost to Mamela. He garnered 424 votes against Malema’s 498.
The party scoffed his claims that there was cheating and demands for a rerun. He would then take a break from active politics. The BCP fielded Tiroyaone Ntsima at the 2019 General Election. He lost to Wynter Mmolotsi of the Alliance for Progressives. Ntsima is now with the Botswana People’s Party (BPP). Mmegi has also learnt that Nthusi Chimbise is also most likely to represent the party in Francistown West at the 2024 General Election. Apart from him, sources in the BCP say that there is no one who has declared interest to contest the primaries in Francistown West. At the 2019 General Election, the BCP backed BPP candidate Mbaakanyi Lenyatso in Francistown West as part of an arrangement with its Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) partners. That was before the party decided to quit the opposition coalition.
Chimbise contested the 2019 General Election under the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF). That was after he fell out with some in the BCP. He would later rejoin the party. Yesterday, BCP secretary for Francistown region Thomas Ookeditse said it was still early to assume that there will be no primaries in the three Francistown constituencies. “We can only determine if there will be a contestation or not once the call for nominations has been closed. If I say there will be a contestation or not relying on the mood or prevailing circumstances on the ground, I will be preempting the outcomes of the nomination process. This might cause acrimony in the party.”