Paya dismisses John's voters roll objection

Mpho Mokwape | Thursday July 4, 2019 11:28

 

Magistrate Mogi Paya, following oral evidence by the parties and submissions by their attorneys, dismissed the objection citing that John, who is an independent candidate, had not challenged Alliance for Progressives (AP) candidate, Lenong’s evidence. 

“The objector’s evidence had been drawn from inferences compared to the defendant’s evidence, which was not challenged in any material way,” she said. 

The objector, John, who had instructed Advocate Mpho Garebatho, has similar cases of objection before court – two against Duma Boko and wife­ – will now face Lenong on the campaign trail. 

Earlier on he had tried to convince the court that the AP hopeful was not a resident of Phase 2, Gaborone and that he has never seen him in the yard he claimed to reside in therefore warranting him removal from the electoral roll. 

However, Lenong who was represented by Uyapo Ndadi denied the allegations saying at the time of registration he lived at the place that is the subject of his objection and that he had carried out all his campaign activities there, which he considers as his principal residence. 

He explained that the effect of his move did not affect his registration status in that at the time of the application he was a resident in the area. 

“In any event there is no harm as I moved to an area that still falls within the polling district that I registered under,” he said.