Eric Molale parades UDC activists
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday August 3, 2015 17:06
“We are encouraged by the fact that there is some unhappiness in our rival’s camp, and some of the people who defected to us are their former council candidates who did very well in the 2014 General elections; they did not win but one former area council candidate in this ward had puled 698 votes,” Pabalinga added.
The BDP paraded some 22 members on stage alongside their Parliamentary candidate Molale on Sunday at a well-attended rally in Pitsane where Charma Gal was the toast of the day.
Botsalo Ntuane the BDP Secretary General says more defectors from the UDC and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) will be paraded in the next two weeks as the BDP bids to turn around things and win back the constituency they lost to the opposition for the first time at the 2014 General elections before that UDC MP James Mathokgwane resigned his seat for a more rewarding job in Selebe-Phikwe.
Molale’s rally with a heavy presence of cabinet Ministers and BDP MP’s started off with a late afternoon motorcade to the same freedom square where their rival kgosi Lotlamoreng was launched in fanfare the previous day.
The BDP had pitched three marque tents for the rally which was not as fully packed, as they would have loved.
There was some posturing of peace within the constituency as all losing parliamentary candidates in the just held Bulela Ditswe Primary elections were paraded one after the other each endorsing Molale and urging the locals to vote for him.
Former area MP Kitso Mokaila was also present to speak wonderful things about Molale whom he described as a confidante.Perhaps Molale’s morale booster was also the presence of his once main rival for the candidacy of the Party, Fankie Motsaathebe, who also threw his weight behind Molale and acted as the master of ceremonies.
While some BDP activists could be heard discussing their worry about the unhappy civil servants in the constituency, Molale’s campaign manager Anderson Kambimba held some optimistic view. Kambimba says he has realised that the respect of kgosi Lotlamoreng is confined to Pitsane, while the more populous western side of the constituency, the Pitshane/Molopo is a different story altogether.
From the Sunday event one could tell that various BDP MPs and Ministers had started camping in the constituency. Defence Minister Shaw Kgathi told the rally that he had been in the constituency with his team since Thursday working very hard.
Though their rally looked colourful, the organisers say they are having the real official launch in Pitshane this coming weekend.