Alluring BCP, BDP battle for F/town in the offing
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday February 7, 2014 15:02
Come general elections next October, BCP secretary general, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang promises changes in the control of the Francistown East, South and West constituencies. Buoyed by the recent victory in the Francistown West by-election that was characterised by a low voter turn out, Gobotswang classifies all the three constituencies of Francistown as ‘winnable’ in the forthcoming general elections. He admits though that considering the good performance by the BDP in the 2009 General Elections, the BCP will have to double its efforts to oust the BDP. In the last general elections, the BDP won all the three constituencies convincingly.
In Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi won with 4,024 votres followed by BCP’s Vain Mamela with 3,546 votes. Bernard Balikani representing the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) was voted by 289 people, followed by Joseph Mumba of the Botswana National Front (BNF) with 280 votes. Dr Elmon Tafa who was an independent candidate garnered 56 votes ahead of MELS’ Tobokani Amos who trailed behind with a paltry 26. Between the 2009 General Elections to date, a lot of changes have taken place. Most significantly, a split of the BDP means its former main man Mmolotsi crossed the floor in 2010 and pioneered the formation of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). Then, Mamela lost the constituency by a marginal 478 votes. In the impending general elections, Mmolotsi, whose party has joined forces with BNF and BPP to form opposition cooperation, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), will have to compete for a pool of people who gave him the parliamentary seat in 2009 with the current BDP candidate retired district commissioner, Sylvia Muzila.
So, the BDP and BMD/UDC battle will have a direct bearing on how the BCP is likely to fare in the October General Elections. If Mamela’s support base has grown or has been intact through and through, then he is capable of giving his competition a tough time. Unlike in other Francistown constituencies, the Francistown South constituency has not been hard hit by the BDP Bulela Ditswe primaries’ fall out. But, given the animosity between BDP and its offshoot, the area has been going through challenges.
Between the BDP and BMD operatives, a lot of people are still unsure as to whether people they used to work with are still in the BDP or they have left for BMD. It is this state of affairs that could rock the ruling party in its endeavours to recapture the area it lost in 2010.
The BCP stands to reap a lot from this state of confusion if they execute their strategies well. Mmolotsi is steadfast that his party stands to prove its mettle in the forthcoming elections. Upon the formation of the BMD, all the existing structures of the BDP were paralysed and completely uprooted. “Given my relationship with the constituents, I am convinced that there will be no shocker at all,' declares Mmolotsi. He oozes confidence that he has done his requisite assignments, which render him a valuable frontrunner in the constituency. The cherry on top of all this is that sometime in 2011 he introduced a burial scheme that has endeared him even further to the constituents. In Francistown East, the BCP lost this equally marginal constituency to the BDP. The incumbent MP, the Minister of Foreign and International Relations Phandu Skelemani had won the constituency via 3,698 votes whilst BCP’s Morgan Moseki polled 3,130 votes with BPP’s Margaret Selolwane trailing with 113 votes.
The difference of 568 votes appears to a very big margin but in a constituency hit by post BDP primaries’ instability, the margin counts for nothing. Over and above, its first ever good performance in the 2009 general elections, the BCP won four of the six council wards sending a chill down the spines of the BDP diehards. There has been a lot of political ruckus emanating from the disputed primary election results in Francistown East won by Buti Billy. Skelemani would later lose an appeal of the primaries.
Now there is fear that Skelemani's frustrated supporters could give away their votes in protest as their relationship with Billy’s supporters has reached an all time low. The BCP is destined to capitalise on this divided house. But not all is smooth sailing in the ‘party of choice’. During its party primaries, the BCP lost one of its councillors to the BDP, a development that has obviously weakened the opposition party. Moseki and his BCP team know very well that Billy is no pushover and he will definitely give his BCP counterpart a run for his money.
This Billy/Moseki political match has all the ingredients of a thriller. The BCP through Dr Habaudi Hobona recently made history by being the first opposition party to have a woman MP in Botswana Parliament.
Hobona had garnered 966 votes with BPP’s Shatiso Tambula as her runner-up with 578 votes. Two independent candidates Joseph Mabutho and Kago Phofuetsile got 157 and 117 votes respectively.The 2009 election picture was completely different as the BDP represented by the late Tshelang Masisi was elected by 4,188 people, BCP’s Matlhomola Modise got 2,779 votes, Whyte Marobela then of the BPP got 1,059 votes whilst Olefile Moumakwa of BNF got 334 votes. In the Francistown-West constituency, the BDP recently failed to field a candidate in a by-election after one of the primary election losing candidates, Marobela barred his party and its winning candidate, Ignatius Moswaane from the elections.
The recent move by the party leadership to hold fresh primary elections against the wish of the constituents has set tongues wagging in an area that has been a BDP stronghold since 1999.
The BDP went into the recent by-election with two independent candidates in the contest. More candidates are expected to go independent after fresh primaries whose date is yet to be announced.The constituents have shown a bias to Moswaane who, arguably is not favoured by circumstances. Should he lose the primaries, Moswaane will have an excuse to be an independent candidate, as he will also be propelled by the support that he commands in the area. Gobotswang was full of optimism as he declared that, “Our plan is to win all the three constituencies in Francistown. Having won the Francistown West constituency in a recent by-election, it will definitely have a spill over effect on other areas.”
The BDP deputy executive secretary, Lee Lesetedi was reluctant to reveal his party strategies to the media indicating that, “We are aware that the opposition has started early campaigns. Unfortunately, I can’t share the party strategy with you.”
Lesetedi, insisted that the BDP still had numbers in all the Francistown constituencies to win the upcoming general elections comfortably.