Fainting greets Moswaane�s win

Chakalisa Dube | Wednesday March 5, 2014 09:59

 

The crowd at Selolwe Hill Community Junior Secondary School became uncontrollable with joy when it became evident after six wards were counted that Moswaane, known by the sobriquet ‘Best’ was headed for a landslide. Apparently overcome by unbridled ecstasy, one of the politician’s supporters fainted immediately after the final results were announced.

Even with Moswaane shouting at the top of his voice for calm, the supporters did not heed the plea to keep cool. Moswaane won the contest comfortably, garnering 973 votes followed by Monarch East councillor, Raoboy Mpuang with 426 votes.

Former Francistown mayor, Peter Ngoma came third with 270 votes while former deputy mayors Angelina Sengalo and Esther Mokgosi got 42 and 23 votes respectively.

The BDP ordered a repeat of the Francisown West primaries after it bungled the first exercise that cost it the seat in the by-election in January. The party held a combined primary for the by-election and the general election but suffered a major setback when one of the losers, Whyte Marobela threw a spanner in the works through a court case.

The dispute ended in the BDP and Moswaane being locked out of the by-election, paving the way for Dr Habaudi Hobona of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) to romp home and become the first female opposition MP in Botswana. The by-election was held to replace the late BDP MP, Tshelang Masisi.

Even with the weekend win, Moswaane is not assured of representing the BDP in the general elections this year because his nemesis, Marobela who boycotted the re-run may spring another surprise. 

After the results were announced, Moswaane pleaded for support from those he vanquished to recapture the seat from the BCP.

The losers pledged to back him.

Meanwhile, counting of the results was delayed because of problems at Tagala Primary School polling station in Gerald Estates.

The school was said to have experienced a power cut as a result of load shedding when ballots were about to be counted. Candles were later used in the counting.  

The election was overseen by Kabo Morwaeng who said everything went well besides the power cuts. In the general elections, Moswaane is most likely to meet Shatiso Tambula of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Hobona if she wins the BCP primaries.