BDP youth pushes for more representation
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday October 2, 2023 07:00
While the BDP NYEC cannot actively campaign for its members in the primaries because of the code of conduct, they can only express their wishes for 50% youth representation in Parliament and councils.
The BDP will hold its primary elections starting November this year. The BDP youth decry the fact that currently the youth representation at both Parliament and council is negligible. “We want nothing less than 50% for both council and Parliament representation. Our hands are tight because the party constitution and code of conduct for Bulela Ditswe do not allow us to campaign for other members.
Our wish is to have youth representation so that issues affecting them are deliberated well,” BDP NYEC chairperson Collen Mochotlhi said in an interview on Wednesday. Mochotlhi also appealed to youth to contest in large numbers in the upcoming primaries adding that they want hard working and credible candidates.
The chairperson said they would request the party to assist the youth who would have won primary elections with resources so that they could campaign effectively. He said this will not be the first time for the BDP youth to make such a request to the party as they did so in 2018 and they had an impressive number of youth in councils and only a few in Parliament.
He further pointed out that one of the challenges the youth face is lack of financial funds and others. Just like political women, youth are still lagging behind in political positions or representations. Meanwhile, the BDP once made a request that the youth willing to contest for primaries must be exempted from paying primary election fees as it is the case with elderly politicians in the party but their plea failed to succeed.
The national stakeholder evaluation report for the 2019 General Election recommended the reinstatement of Youth Parliament to increase youth participation in democratic processes and also for the government to take more deliberate steps to adopt affirmative action measures aimed at increasing participation of women, youth and persons with disability in decision-making structure.