Tawele challenges his loss in BCP primaries
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday May 6, 2014 15:47
He said while his protest to be allowed to contest the party primaries was being considered, he had petitioned the party to advise Mamela to stop using the posters but nothing was done.
“Again, some people whose names appeared in the party voters’ roll were denied the opportunity to vote because some of their cards had expired. But according to my interpretation, they are eligible to vote even when their cards have expired provided their names appear in the voters roll. This is one of the factors that will form the basis of my protest,” Tawele said. He said names of some members registered in Francistown South appear in the Francistown East voters’ roll.
“These people have registered to vote in other areas for the 2014 general elections. They were denied the opportunity to vote for me on Saturday. They should have been allowed to vote. They did not necessarily have to have registered to vote only in Francistown South for the general elections in order to vote at the primaries in the constituency”.
“As long as their names appear in the constituency voters’ roll, even if they have registered to vote elsewhere for the general elections, nothing bars them from voting at the primaries,” Tawele explained.
Mamela who beat Tawele by 498 to 424 votes has scoffed at his opponent’s claims. “I have been using posters because I was confirmed as a candidate late last year before Tawele won his protest to be allowed to contest the primaries.
“Again Tawele won his protest to be allowed to contest the primaries recently while the posters were already in the hands of my supporters who were circulating them. It would even have been difficult to get them back from the hands of party activists as Tawele wished. My belief is that party cadres in the constituency were aware that primaries have been called by the party,” Mamela said. He accused Tawele of using members of a different party to campaign for him at the primaries.
“It is a concern to the party that Tawele can engage activists of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) who share no relationship with us to campaign for him at the primaries. In a nutshell, according to me, the elections were fair. I am disappointed with Tawele’s decision to protest. Most of the issues he raised as basis for his appeal are not genuine according to me,” Mamela said.
Late last year, the BCP barred Tawele from contesting the primaries on the grounds that he has not been active in the party after the 2009 general elections. By then, Mamela was the chosen candidate. The party however, backtracked in April this year announcing that it will hold primaries in the constituency after Tawele had protested.
Yesterday, the BCP Francistown region leader, Samuel Moribame who observed the elections said that he was not aware that Tawele intended protesting the weekend results.
He said the elections went well. “I had a chat with Tawele after the primaries, but he never indicated that he would protest.
He did indicate that he was not happy with how certain things were done with regard to the primaries, but never mentioned protesting. He is however within his rights to protest if at all he feels cheated,” Moribame said yesterday.