SA minister arrives for observer mission
Bame Piet | Thursday October 9, 2014 14:51
She will be representing South African president Jacob Zuma, who is the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. The organ is mandated with observing elections in the region.
Mashabane will be joining the 70 other observers from the Southern African bloc who arrived this week.
The countries that have sent observers are Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
“About 70 of them arrived this week. They started their training yesterday and we are expecting more,” said SADC head of communications Leesa Martin.
She added that the mission chair, Mashabane, would launch the observer mission Friday morning at Boipuso Hall, Fairgrounds Holdings.
Mauritius, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Madagascar have not yet sent their observers.
“It is not unusual for member states to arrive at the 11th hour,” Martin said yesterday. She cited last year’s election in Zimbabwe when a mission from DRC arrived on the eve of elections.
However, the SADC PF has not yet confirmed its participation as it has failed to respond to our inquiry, which we emailed two weeks ago. Members of Parliament from Botswana have in the past participated in SADC PF election observer missions, even defying a recent ban of their participation by President Ian Khama.
The European Union said that it would not be sending an observer mission, but their diplomats would monitor the situation.
“The EU will not be sending an electoral observation mission to Botswana for the general elections due October 24. However, as it is done in other countries, EU may decide to send their diplomatic personnel to monitor, not observe the election. The government of Botswana and the Independent Electoral Commission have indicated that this possibility is open”.
The EU has for many years not listed Botswana as a hotspot, but Mmegi has it on good authority that more countries have started showing interest in this year’s elections.
In 2009, for instance, the EU set up an informal group led by France and Britain to do election observation, and presented a report. This year, the number of countries interested in monitoring the election has gone up, our sources have revealed.
The country is headed for a hotly contested election on October 24 that will put the ruling Botswana Democratic Party against Umbrella for Democratic Change, and Botswana Congress Party. The presidential candidates are Ian Khama, Duma Boko and Dumelang Saleshando.