Bobirwa UDC threatens court action
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday October 29, 2024 09:58
According to Makwati’s strongly worded demand letter to the IEC Secretary, Jeff Siamisang, just 250 ballots were issued and used leaving many polling officers unable to vote. For this, Makwati demands they be given an opportunity to vote again and that the IEC bears costs for their travels, failure for which the UDC threatens legal action.
Of 250 ballot papers
Makwati expresses disappointment that while one would reasonably have expected the IEC to protect, promote and fulfil citizens’ right to vote, in terms of the legislative and constitutional mandate with which the IEC is endowed, the IEC conducted itself in a manner that is against the sacrosanct principles of constitutionalism, democracy and good governance. “A mere 250 ballot papers were provided for the Bobirwa constituency, leaving over 800 voters (based on a conservative estimate) in limbo and unable to cast their votes. The criteria employed by the IEC to determine that only 250 people would cast their votes on the day leaves one with more questions than answers and a perception of bad faith on the IEC’s part. It is noteworthy that those who were able to cast their vote comprise only about a quarter of all the voters who turned out in large numbers to exercise their fundamental and inalienable right to the franchise,” he states. According to Makwati, by 6pm on October 18, 2024, only 250 voters had cast their votes. He submits that it was apparent that the IEC agents were deliberately pushing for the polling station to close before the majority of the voters could cast their votes as they engaged in a painstakingly sluggish voting process to frustrate the voters, only to later announce that they had run out of ballot papers.
Further, he states that it is important to note at this point that a significant number of the voters had travelled from areas as far-flung as Kasane, Maun and Francistown, incurring costs that they will never recoup.
“Against the backdrop of conduct, which is potentially fatal to the entire electoral process, the returning officer and his colleagues were either unwilling or unable to guarantee the disgruntled, disenfranchised voters of what remedial action would be taken to remedy the defective voting process, in essence, to ensure that all people who had turned out to vote on the relevant day would eventually be able to vote. The IEC officials dismissively informed the voters that each voter could potentially seek permission from his/her supervisor to be released to vote on the 30th of October 2024. Whether such a simplistic approach without guarantees is feasible or simply depicts a figment of the officials’ imagination is a question for another day, but right now, what is needed is a solution to the IEC’s stinky mess,” he states.
“It was deliberate”
According to Makwati who is also a lawyer, the address to the voters was non-committal, nonchalant and totally unappreciative of the ramifications of the deliberate and seemingly calculated disenfranchisement of people. He states neither a solution nor a semblance of it was provided as the officials directed the voters to disperse, treating their plight lightly and with sheer disdain. He further submits that by no fault of their own, advance voters in Bobirwa and elsewhere within Botswana were brazenly denied their right to vote by the IEC, either through gross negligence or intention.
“This is a brazen attempt at eroding whatever remains of the edifice that holds together our constitutional democracy piece by interlocking piece, until nothing remains of it. These maneouvers are as a matter of fact, a well crafted script, orchestrated to achieve voter suppression in order to tilt the scales towards the ruling party, akin to the tactics in despotic regimes elsewhere in Africa, especially Zimbabwe, where the IEC inexplicably went on some clandestine “benchmarking” exercise which left all patriotic Batswana in awe at the audacity of the IEC to engage in such associations. It is not in doubt that the IEC’s benchmarking exercise was indeed a “success” viewed from the prism of the IEC’s intended outcomes, since the fruits thereof have been laid bare for all to see and experience,” he submits. Makwati further submits that in any functional constitutional democracy, the right to vote in a free, and fair election is not a fictitious concept, but a fundamental right couched in no uncertain terms, that is not to be treated as a mere favour or privilege accorded by those in power.
“As the Bobirwa UDC constituency, we shun any attempt to disenfranchise the voters whether such efforts be direct or indirect and will take all lawful measures to protect the rights of our people. Such disenfranchisement is a flagrant violation of our people’s fundamental liberties. “The IEC must hang its head in shame for the relentless assault it has unleashed upon our democracy, behaving as an outpost of the ruling party and in the process, pushing the entire country towards a point of no return. We the people, are tired of begging the IEC and those at its helm to do right by our people. We have been violated, insulted and undermined by an entity lacking even the most elementary characteristics of independence headed by people who appear too handicapped to discharge a duty to conduct a simple election with just over one million registered voters,” he states. The above notwithstanding, Makwati says they have been informed that only officers from specific three constituencies will be given an opportunity to vote on October 26, 2024, yet what criteria informs the remedy in respect of only those three constituencies remain mysterious given that the entire process was a sham, countrywide.
The demands
Makwati says they demand that the IEC must make guarantees that all the eligible voters who could not vote at Matshekge Hill School, Bobirwa constituency, will be accorded the opportunity to vote in the general election or before October 30, 2024. The IEC must ensure that the managers of the hitherto disenfranchised voters release them from their duty stations so that they can cast their votes. They also demand that all the civil servants who reside outside the jurisdictions at which they are to vote and were eligible to vote, but could not vote on the October 18, 2024, be provided with the transport fare at the cost of the IEC when they travel to cast their votes. “That the IEC responds to these demands within 24 hours from receipt of this communiqué, failing which we reserve the right to take any befitting action within the confines of the law to assert our people’s constitutional right to vote even in the face of flagrant despotism,” he concludes.