Storm brews for BDP in Serowe South?
Gasebalwe Seretse | Wednesday January 15, 2014 17:10
Venson-Moitoi garnered 2,806 votes against Phuthego’s 1,346 and Bagwasi’s 1,111 respectively.
Mmegi has been reliably informed that Bagwasi is planning to resign from the party and stand as an independent candidate in the coming general election while Phuthego will not cooperate with Venson-Moitoi in her bid to recapture the constituency.
When contacted for comment, Bagwasi could neither confirm nor deny that he was intending to defect from the ruling party.
He had already indicated to his supporters that he was not happy with the outcome of the primary elections,
“All I can say for now is that I am still consulting with all my people concerning my next move. If you want to know more get in touch after a week or so,” Bagwasi told Mmegi briefly.
There is a feeling that if Bagwasi indeed defects from the BDP, this could mean the party losing a good number of his loyal supporters.
On the other hand, Mmegi is reliably informed that former media practitioner, Phuthego, is likely to refuse to cooperate with Venson-Moitoi as he too is disgruntled with the way the latter is said to have conducted herself in the run-up to the elections.
It is alleged that before the elections, Phuthego penned a letter of protest about allegations that Venson-Moitoi’s camp hosted tea parties at different wards in order to lure voters. Phuthego’s camp also believes that there were some anomalies with the voters’ roll that worked in favour of Venson-Moitoi.
According to the source, despite registering a complaint with the relevant authorities prior to the primaries, Phuthego’s concerns were allegedly swept under the carpet.
Even after the elections, Phuthego registered a formal complaint with the BDP central region secretary that the elections were disorganised and marred by irregularities.
His camp is reportedly still awaiting a response from the region. According to the source, one of Phuthego’s contentions was that many eligible voters in some polling stations were turned away as their names did not appear on the voters’ rolls despite being in possession of membership cards.
“There was no consistency as in some stations voters without membership cards whose names appeared on the voters’ roll were allowed to use their national identity cards while in some polling stations it was the opposite,” said the source.
Like Bagwasi, Phuthego refused to comment saying he was still consulting with party elders and his followers concerning his next move.
“All I can say is that I do not intend to leave the BDP. We are having problems that we can resolve internally,” he said.
Interestingly, although Phuthego and Bagwasi were quick to register their complaints, they were largely overlooked while special attention was given to Ndelu Seretse’s protest case against Kgotla Autlwetse’s win, which was followed by a re-run. It is feared that Phuthego and Bagwasi will gang up to topple Venson-Moitoi in the general elections if their grievances are not listened to. Despite several attempts, Mmegi failed to reach BDP secretary-general Mpho Balopi for comment.