Mogalakwe Sticks To His Case Despite UDC Loss
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday February 3, 2020 16:42
Already two witnesses have given evidence on the matter and Mogalakwe intends to call six more and two police officers.
His case will be heard today (Monday) before a panel of three judges, namely Gaopalelwe Ketlogetswe, Itumeleng Segopolo and Omphemetse Motumise.
The former councillor for Mosolotshane-Moralane ward has taken the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to court.
He wants the outcome of the October 23, 2019 elections for that ward in the Shoshong constituency to be declared null and void because the elections were not free and fair.
“I cannot withdraw my case simply because UDC did so. My issues are different from theirs. My complaints are about election irregularities that happened at Moralane primary school polling station and failure to take action by IEC presiding officer,” Mogalakwe said.
“IEC has failed to provide people with shelter where they could sit when it was raining. Again the cell phone was used as a light when they had a problem of electricity.”
He said another factor is that the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) member was campaigning as voters queued to cast their votes during election day, something that was reported to the presiding officer but no action was taken. Mogalakwe said he has enough evidence to prove his case.
Still on the matter, he said in other polling stations elderly people who could not read and write, but simply mentioned their names, were told to make a mark on the BDP or UDC symbol by IEC officers. “I have witnesses who will give evidence on that one also. The reason why I had called police officers to give evidence is because they can tell the truth about what was happening during election day. The court is the one that will decide if I have a case or not. I am not going to back down on the matter,” he said. BDP had won the ward with 674 votes, AP with 637 and UDC got 264.