Petitioners hit a snag

Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday January 14, 2014 17:08

 

FRANCISTOWN: The man behind the recently discredited Francistown West by-election petition was a bundle of nerves last Friday following a no-show by the District Commissioner (DC) to accept the second petition.

Last year November, Zazambi Tuelo and other supporters of Botswana Democratic Party's Ignatius Moswaane, who was barred from contesting the Francistown West parliamentary by-election, handed a fraudulent petition, which had, among others, names of dead people in it.

The petition lobbied President Ian Khama to postpone the by-election from November 23 to a later date. It was received by then acting president Ponatshego Kedikilwe, who conceded and postponed the by-election to January 25.

Tuelo could not furnish Mmegi with the latest one, insisting that it was not yet for public consumption, only that it was seeking the withdrawal an election writ of the by-election. Once again, the group wants Moswaane included among candidates for the by-election. The petitioners wanted to hand over the petition to the DC to be forwarded to President Khama.

Visibly frustrated, Tuelo, told a handful of supporters who had turned up for the petition termed 'My Vote My Voice', that the police, as per public order act, could not offer the DC escort to the Kgotla.

'The police said that in order for us to hand over the petition to the DC we ought to belong to an established and recognised organisation or group.

'Because we did not identify with any group or organisation, they could not escort the DC to receive the petition or provide any service we needed to hand over the petition,' Tuelo told the gathering. The police could not be immediately contacted for purposes of corroboration as Officer Commanding Number One District, Senior Superintendent Israel Tuelo was said to be in a lengthy meeting for the better part of yesterday.

The petitioners have not given up on their mission.  'We are racing against time. We have now resolved that for clear identification by the police, the petition will be handed in through the Monarch Community Development Trust,' said Tuelo yesterday, adding that, 'the Trust has since adopted the petition.'

He said they were still 'finalising a few things, then the petition will be handed over soon.'

The District Officer Administration Opelo Gaopale confirmed that the DC was supposed to receive the petition but could not do so because the police could not provide an escort due to irregularities from the petitioner.