BCP stops defections in Okavango
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday June 24, 2016 17:07
This follows the decamping to the BDP by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okavango Bagalatia Arone and his campaign manager.
At a BDP rally at Kelemogile ward, another BCP recruit to BDP, Lotty Manyapetsa stated that the ruling party would continue to recruit more people in Okavango.
“Our party will continue to recruit more and more members in Okavango. When Arone is welcomed at his area, he will not be alone. The recruitment drive is still continuing in all opposition held constituencies,” Manyapetsa said.
“People are also realising that they had made mistake by voting opposition since some MPs are not taking care of their areas. We are simply telling people about the importance of being a BDP member because our aim is to win the 2019 general elections.”
BCP seems not to be taking the threat lightly as it has sent big guns to Okavango to ensure the party stays on track. The party’s vice president Kesitegile Gobotswang, who led the delegation to the area, said he has talked to their members after their MP defected not be carried away.
“I have been to that area in the past week and I only came back on Monday. What I can tell you is that our members are not easily going to be convinced by BDP to defect to them. We had to assess the situation and how members got affected when they heard of the bad news,” Gobotswang said.
“The good thing is that our party structure has been active and before we arrived, it was already on the ground. Although they were shocked, it was not a surprise because their working relationship with he MP was not that good because of the way he used to criticise the party before he defected.”
Gobotswang said his party is aware of some strategies that the BDP will want to use in that area and they are responding to them.
He said they have four councillors in that constituency and he is certain that all the four will not cross to the BDP.
“I have toured that constituency with other party leaders and we were accompanied by party structures to address. Currently we have teams in every village, which will be on the ground. Even if the BDP can send its delegation, our team leaders and the region will find a way of handling them.”
Gobotswang said they would also unveil the tombstone of the former Okavango MP, Joseph Kavindama during the congress in Shakawe.
Meanwhile, the BCP has postponed the their annual conference which was initially planned from July 17-19 to July 29-31, so as to focus on the by-election at the Kelemogile ward in Ramotswa.
The elections, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) writ, will be held on July 16, a day before the holidays.
The BCP vice president said his party would now be focusing on the by-election to make sure that they retain Kelemogile ward.