Three parties fight in Mochudi by-election

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday May 18, 2015 17:45

The seat fell vacant after Titus Kebuileng who was elected councillor under the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) resigned from due to work commitment. 

Those who will be contesting are Boitumelo Sedumedi (35) of the UDC, Lesego Matlapeng (60) of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and Molefe Mosothwane of Botswana Congress Party (BCP). The election will be held on May 30.

The Monitor has established that all candidates complain of un-tarred internal roads, water shortages and failure by BPC to connect residents to the power grid.

“The challenge that residents of this ward face is lack of water which is very serious especially at Mmadipamo and Diphonchi. We are always told that the reason why there is water shortage is because of low pressure. Again the problem was caused by the fact that some people were given plots which were not serviced,” Sedumedi said.

She said their ward is less developed compared to others in Mochudi. She lamented poor internal roads has scared public transporters from the ward. “The owners of public transport especially those who own combis and taxi are not willing to apply for permits to operate in this area. We used to have two combis but they had long stopped coming here.”

Meanwhile Matlapeng blames opposition parties for failing to develop the ward. “This ward has been in the hands of the opposition parties for so many years.  The former councillors could have advocated for this area to be developed especially that the village is developing this side. First, I will ask the council to pave some of our internal roads,” he said.

Mosothwane said he is concerned about unemployment rate that is very high in the ward.

“Most of our youth are working for Ipelegeng, something that hurts a lot while some graduates are not working. What even disadvantages this area is the fact that Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital is being relocated to Pilane village,” Mosothwane said. In the last elections, Kebuileng of UDC won the seat with 590 votes. He was trailed by the BCP candidate with 482 votes and the BDP contestant with 432.