Court To Rule On Kaudwane/Serilatholo Petition
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday February 17, 2020 15:11
A panel of three judges, Gaopalelwe Ketlogetswe, Itumeleng Segopolo and Omphemetse Motumise will deliver the ruling. The petitioner, Maneke Segootsane of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) contend that there was Alliance for Progressives’ (AP) symbol on the ballot paper, yet the party did not contest in that particular ward.
According to court papers, AP had not nominated a candidate for the said council election and therefore its symbol confused voters. Segootsane got 486 votes while Gopolang Tower Segwaba of Botswana Democratic Party garnered 525 voters.
Segootsane’s attorney, Advocate Duma Boko told the court recently that the AP symbol had contributed to the spoilt ballots to the extent that they exceeded the margin with which the petitioner was edged. “The petitioner had raised the objection with the presiding officer who dismissed him. If AP symbol did not exist the petitioner could have won. It was IEC’s responsibility to ensure that AP symbol is not on the ballot paper. If IEC could call for a re- run if a symbol of a party is not there, why could they not do the same with this one,” Boko questioned.
On the other hand, BDP attorney Itseng Mothibamele said the petitioner case had no legal basis and there was no legally recognisable ground upon which nullifying elections could be based.
“We submit, the only time that the court can set aside a challenge on elections based on the allegations that the ballot papers were faulty is if section 48 has been breached,” Mothibamele said.“Essentially what the petitioner asks the court to do is to make a finding that the IEC breached its mandate by including AP symbol in the ballot paper, and to thereafter declare that because of this fact, people were confused and marked at the wrong place.”
He said there is no provision that empowers court to do so in the Act.
“There is no provision that says where a party has not nominated a candidate then the IEC is precluded from including its symbol in the ballot paper,” Mothibamele continued.
He also said the petitioner had failed to establish that the voters would have voted for him and to demonstrate the confusion or even show a voter who wrote that he was confused.
Mothibamele stated that the evidence adduced at the trial does not support the allegations made in the petition.