Turned away voters 'feel cheated'

Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday July 30, 2024 11:41

Although the intra party elections were less chaotic than the previous ones, many potential voters say they feel cheated as they were 'denied the right to vote for their preferred candidates'. In Mogoditshane East, a relatively new constituency, one woman who was turned away from voting said she felt cheated after being denied a chance to vote as she had previously verified her name and it was there in the final voters' roll. 'I cannot understand why my name is missing when I indeed verified it. This is cheating and they are doing it in daylight. Mme ba ke neng ke batla go ba tlhopha ba tsile go fenya ka gore go itse modimo. Ke utlwile botlhoko tota,' she said.

The presiding officer, Kenalemang Ditibirwa confirmed that a number of their members were being turned away and that many of those wanted to break down. She explained that inside the voting centre, time and again they had to offer some sort of counselling to prevent a riot from erupting. 'People are affected deeply because they honestly wanted to vote. Turning people away can potentially turn catastrophic as some feel cheated or feel there is some sort of cheating going on. 'We had to offer counselling to absolve ourselves from blame and to calm the situation,' she said. Despite the hitch of missing names of voters on the roll, voting in many polling stations in Mogoditshane East went well without any major challenges except late at night when Solomon Dihutso polling station experienced an influx of voters when the centre was already closing. People were outside trying to force their way in despite being told it was closing time.

The presiding officer resorted to collecting identity cards of the few on the line which in turn caused more chaos. In the end, those who desired to vote were allowed to vote with the station closing way later than others. Mogoditshane West where the incumbent Member of Parliament, Tumiso Rakgare was battling with the other four candidates on the other hand experienced more voters being turned away. In the short space that The Monitor team arrived there, about six people were told they didn't appear in the voters' roll. Mogoditshane Senior Secondary School, which was the polling station for Selaledi ward, many turned away voters got very frustrated about the turn of events.

BDP cell branch secretary for the ward, Phetogo Santu, said people who were turned from voting were greater than those who actually voted. 'I know this because I have been ferrying people from their homes in large numbers and you find out that the many people I brought here, out of that number only two people will be able to vote while the rest are turned away,' he said. Santu said it was frustrating because a lot of people wanted to vote and had verified their names well in time only to be told they couldn't vote. He confirmed to The Monitor that some of those turned away, their names were said to be in other wards where they didn't register or even reside there. 'Apparently there is also a mix-up of voters' names within different wards.

It makes it impossible for voters because even if they go there to vote, they aren't sure of the candidates they are voting for. They end up being forced to vote for the MP alone and leave the council candidates,' he said. Despite the missing names, those who managed to vote were able to receive the results according to how they voted. For Mogoditshane West, 2,427 voters were recorded with Rakgare emerging as the winner retaining the seat as the incumbent, beating the four candidates. He won by 892 votes followed by Oteng Mpudu with 686 votes, then Bakang Matlho with 355 votes, while Christopher Lesatle and Sethukani Gabanakgosi got 226 and 206 respectively. Mogoditshane East, the only female candidate Lillian Moremi emerged as the winner with 1,084 votes, Peo Tshiamo got 935 votes while Aaron Radira came last with 881 votes.