Opposition Snatches Boikago-Madiba From BDP
Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday January 23, 2017 17:46
BCP’s Area Gabathuse, who contested the ward in the last general elections with the late councillor, Ritchie Kenosi sailed through with 606 votes against the ruling party’s Thabo Dimeku, who got 503 votes. This was an impressive gap of 103 votes. Unlike the calm that usually characterises council by-elections, the Palapye by-election was full of hype as voters turned out in large numbers. The UCCSA polling station pulled a larger crowd because it is situated in a densely populated area followed by the Holy Bontle Apostolic Church polling station. The youth formed the majority of voters.
Though everything ended peacefully, the returning officer, presiding officers as well as police officers were kept on their toes throughout the voting process as continuous complaints were registered by the parties over some unacceptable conduct.
The crowd was a bit difficult to control, especially in the populated UCCSA and Holy Bontle Apostolic Church polling stations. This forced law enforcement officers to order everyone outside the premises of the polling stations to manage the situation.
Urgent anticipation of this day was demonstrated by the fact that the voters had already queued at their respective polling stations as early as 6am and voting had already started by 6.30am. However, in far-flung areas of this ward such as at Bonwakatlhako and Patikwane polling stations that are in the cattle posts, there was a poor turnout that marred the process. The first voter cast their vote well after 10am. Gabathuse said in an interview that it was evident during his campaigns that the community of Palapye were hungry for change. “Madiba community had their hopes of employment shattered by the collapse of the glass manufacturing plant, Morupule B and also BCL Mine in Selebi-Phikwe.” Ruling party candidate, Dimeku was not available throughout the counting and announcement of the results. Youthful councillor for Lerala East ward, Kabo Ketshogile, who had been campaigning in the ward for the past three weeks pins the blame of his loss squarely on his party leadership. “The results call for serious introspection on the part of our party because it shows that Batswana are not happy, especially the youth and the party must find out the cause,” he said. He expressed the need for the ruling party to go back to the drawing board to hear the concerns of Batswana.
He also observed that the party leadership was not supportive in the by-election as they were not visible. “MPs, Ministers and even councillors are influential. So, if they become complacent it becomes a problem. What I also observed is that those who contested with Dimeku in the primaries sabotaged the party and the party must investigate and take action,” said Ketshogile, who is also Palapye sub-council deputy chairman.