Moatlhodi cries foul after losing
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday November 12, 2013 16:23
Moatlhodi was among the casualties who faulted to book candidacy for the 2014 general election. He lost to President Ian Khama's friend Thapelo Olopeng.
The veteran politician trailed behind with 2,196 votes while Olopeng managed a whopping 3,472. Moatlhodi is of the view that the elections were full of gross irregularities and is hoping that after his protest the results of the primaries will be nullified and a re-run of the polls be held.
Chief among his concerns is that a sizeable number of the people who he believes are his supporters were prevented from casting their votes. He said some of the elders did not have voting cards while others did not appear in the voters roll.
While some names were said to be missing in the voters roll in most constituencies that also held primaries north of Dibete and some cards missing, Moatlhodi believes his case is unique. 'What is more disturbing to me is that the majority of the voters who were turned away are elderly people.
'A majority of the elders are my supporters and I believe that they were going to vote for me. I believe that the pattern to disenfranchise the elders was a deliberate ploy to disadvantage me,' he said yesterday in an interview with Mmegi, adding that he will issue the party central committee with the protest letter soon.
'I am hoping for a possible re-run but this will be decided by the central committee based on what I will tell them in my letter,' he said.
Moatlhodi is also of the view that voter trafficking was rife during the primary elections in the constituency. 'There were buses that carried people from as far away as Gaborone. Most of these people are tertiary education students in Gaborone who are not residents of Tonota in my own understanding. They were trafficked,' he alleged.
Four buses from Gaborone ferried 280 people to Tonota over the weekend. The people who were brought by buses were mostly youth belonging to Olopeng's camp.
Scenes that prevailed at the polls back Moatlhodi's assertions. Scores of the elderly were upset after they were prevented from voting.
After Moatlhodi lost, they vowed to lobby for him to stand as an independent at the general elections next year.
Olopeng referred all inquiries to Christjan Machokoto who was among the coordinators of his campaign team yesterday.
Machokoto dismissed all allegations raised by Moatlhodi against Olopeng. 'He (Moatlhodi) can't say that Olopeng trafficked voters from Gaborone. The voters were born in Tonota but relocated to Gaborone for work opportunities and to study.
No one was trafficked. Olopeng was just assisting those people with transport to come and vote only,' he said. As for cards that were missing and names of voters that did not appear on the voters roll, Machokoto said that it is an issue that happened in all areas that held primaries north of Dibete over the weekend. He also dismissed suggestions that those who were prevented from voting are mostly elders or belong to the Moatlhodi camp.
Machokoto maintains that Olopeng won because the constituents are eager for a change. According to Machokoto constituents believe that Moatlhodi has failed them.
'With his business acumen many residents believe that Olopeng is the right man to represent them. He can use his entrepreneurship acumen to attract fellow businessmen to come and invest in Tonota South,' he said.
He added that the investors will help create jobs and bring developments to the constituency. In another much publicised battle for Francistown East, former mayor Buti Billy trounced the incumbent and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phandu Skelemani by 973 to 635 votes.
Billy attributed his victory to hard work and proper planning.
'Before we started our campaign we did a survey to look at the needs of the people in the constituency. This helped us map our campaign strategy. I however do not want to disclose much about the strategy. There is still the general election to be held in 2014,'he said, adding that during the campaign they told the voters how they were going to address their concerns based on the study.
Unlike his opponent, Billy said that he was in the constituency campaigning while Skelemani was busy with his ministerial duties, which gave him an edge. 'He (Skelemani) relied more on his campaign team to do the job for him which disadvantaged him because people want to get first-hand information concerning how aspiring candidates are going to address their concerns,' said Billy. Skelemani, who is said to be in the process of protesting the party primaries, was unavailable for comment as his phone rang unanswered. His campaign manager Thuso Ketlhokang was not willing to comment on anything pertaining to the primaries.
'Maybe I will comment during the course of the week,' was her comment yesterday.