Civil servants hold the key in Boswelatlou
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday September 18, 2015 16:56
Campaigns between the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) have heightened in recent weeks ahead of the election day, which will be on October 3.
Boswelatlou ward has high numbers of civil servants. In particular the civil servants that reside in the ward work at Lobatse Senior School, Lobatse Brigades and the BURS office.
The ward is made up of four polling stations, Lobatse Senior School, Lobatse Brigade, BURS offices and Crescent school. In the last general elections, UDC won the ward by a margin of two votes. The ward had been under the BDP for 48 years only to lose it to the UDC in 2014.
With UDC teaming up with the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in the by-election, the BDP may find it difficult to snatch it from the UDC. In the last elections, the UDC had garnered 278 votes, the BDP 276, while the BCP received a meagre 93 votes.
The demographics and mathematics favour the UDC. Political analyst, Antony Morima agrees. He says if demographic of workers still exists then this will work against the ruling party. He says with 341 registered to vote at Lotsane Senior Secondary School, 246 at Lobatse Brigade and 68 at BURS polling station, the BDP would have a mammoth task of winning the ward. Morima says the education officers at Lotsane Senior Secondary School and Lobatse Brigade may not be sympathetic to the ruling party due to on-going friction between teachers and the government over conditions of service.
The political analyst said for the fact that BCP had started to help and campaign with UDC in the area alone would boost numbers for them.
“In by-elections, a party needs any number to win. Their numbers could assist the UDC a lot because the margin was too tight,” he said.
UDC will once again bank on the support of the trade union movement. The Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions (BOFEPUSU) leader Johnson Motshwarakgole says they will address their members and encourage them to vote for UDC in this by election.
When it comes to campaigns, the BDP is clearly ahead of the UDC. The party has deployed resources and personnel to the ward. According to sources the party employees have been sent to the area to manage the campaign.
The BDP will be represented by Zubeida Raphael while Themba Setimela will represent the UDC. Of the 792 registered voters in the ward, 647 voted in the 2014 general elections.