BCP, UDC jittery about cooperation
Oarabile Mosikare | Wednesday January 7, 2015 14:44
Before the festive season, Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Slumber Tsogwane, set January 31, 2015 as the date for fresh elections in the three wards where the October general elections did not produce a firm result.
The BCP candidate tied with the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Moshupa West, while in Ngware and Goodhope, the ruling party representatives had the same number of votes as those of UDC.
Yesterday, BCP secretary general, Kesitegile Gobotswang said cooperation with the UDC would not be possible, given the short time before the election re-run.
“A Memorandum of Understanding on by-elections would have been appropriate. However, we are still committed to supporting the UDC where we shall not be contesting.
“The support will only be limited to sending messages out to our members to vote for UDC candidates,” he said.
Opposition parties last inked a MoU for by-elections after the 2009 general elections and Gobotswang said the MoU was between the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM), the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the BCP and that ended in 2014.
“When the UDC came into being, it rendered the MoU obsolete,” he matter-of-factly said, before adding that the party would be defending Moshupa West.
In the other two wards, the party is still consulting with local structures to assess the level of their capacity and readiness to execute an effective campaign.
Meanwhile, UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said the opposition bloc would contest all three wards.
Mohwasa said they could not support any party outside the Umbrella during the elections.
“The parties in the UDC have already done that. Any opposition party that wants to contest should do so under the ambit of the UDC,” said Mohwasa.