December 30 is D-day for by-elections nominations

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday December 21, 2016 10:05

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane, has issued a writ for the by-elections of Boikago-Madiba and Tsabong North in the Palapye and Kgalagadi South constituencies respectively.

He directed that nominations of candidates for the by-elections in the aforesaid polling districts, be received on December 30, 2016.

However this has not gone well with opposition parties as they feel this was done deliberately to disadvantage them.

The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) spokesperson Dithapelo Keorapetse said the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) tries as much as possible to make it difficult for opposition by choosing days, which are generally unsuitable. He said December 30 is festive season and nothing serious should be on the public calendar.

“Holding by-elections in January is deliberately calculated to financially fatigue the opposition, many people and organisations including opposition parties are broke in January,” he said. 

Keorapetse charged that, “Only the BDP is ok with dates because big businesses and tenderprenuers will finance it, in some cases they will use public resources like the President and VP will use state aircraft while Ministers will use state vehicles. The dates are bad and they know it. It is high time the IEC issues a writ of by-elections and the general elections date be provided for in the constitution”.

The Botswana National Front secretary general Moeti Mohwasa said his party has put everything in place to try to submit the names.

“This is not fair at all to political parties because most people are in a festive mood. Any party can be disadvantaged by this decision,” Mohwasa said.

The BDP secretary general Botsalo Ntuane did not respond to questions at press time.