Palapye by-election loser vows a comeback

Bonte Seepi | Wednesday February 1, 2017 17:54

 

In an interview with Mmegi, Dimeku pointed fingers at fellow party members saying they failed him intentionally so that there could be primary elections for the 2019 general elections. Dimeku lost the by-election to the Botswana Congress Party (BCP)’s Area Gabathusi with a margin of 103 last weekend.

The 34-year-old Dimeku revealed that his own friend, Boitshoko Kinnear whom he defeated at primary elections, sabotaged him. He comes a long way with Kinnear as they even worked together in 2013 when they led the late Richie Kenosi’s campaign in the party’s primary elections.

According to him, they (Dimeku and Kinnear) were given an assignment by the party leadership to agree amongst themselves who will stand for the by-election so that there could not be primary elections. He said that they agreed that he (Dimeku) should stand until the day when the party secretary general, Botsalo Ntuane called a meeting.

“That was the day that I learnt that Kinnear also wanted to stand for the by-election, hence the primary elections. At first we were supposed to compromise and choose who will stand because the party leadership believed that the ward could be safe in my hands or his hands. But I was shocked when he handed over his BDP ward chairmanship position saying that he was also standing. He failed to tell me that he had changed his mind,” said Dimeku.

Allegedly, after Kinnear lost the party primary elections, he stopped supporting him though he pretended that he was on his side.

“Rumours circulating were that Kinnear only stood against me to pull some party members from supporting me so that I could lose and open doors for other primary elections in 2019 elections.  They realised that if I had won there would be no chance for anyone so the best thing was to give the ward to the opposition to open doors for primary elections,” explained Dimeku.

Furthermore, the youthful candidate revealed that he was sabotaged as electorates were given a wrong impression that the party and the area Member of Parliament, Moiseraela Goya wanted him only. He said during the day of elections they received some information that Kinnear and his campaign team leaked some information to the BCP, which cost his win.

According to Dimeku, there is no opposition in the area as their numbers are not anywhere near winning them a by-election. He sadly stated that he was not defeated by the BCP, but rather his fellow BDP members.

“I was not defeated by the BCP but my own brothers and sisters in the BDP. They donated their votes to the BCP by badmouthing me and the MP. Even if opposition parties were working together, their numbers were still lower. The 103 margin that Gabathusi conquered me with came from the electorates whom we failed to identify, and Kinnear’s campaign team, “he said.

However, Dimeku made it clear that throughout the campaign he was sure he would win until he learnt that his friend leaked some information to the BCP the day before elections. He said this is not the first time they experience such in the party whereby those who lost in the primaries become bitter to the extent of campaigning for the opposition.

He described that as a norm in the BDP saying that even after Kenosi overcame one Mercy Ndubo in the previous primary elections, she went to help the opposition to de-campaign the BDP without success. He moaned that the primaries have divided the party and noted that people must learn to accept defeat in primaries because there is no way the BDP can work through compromises all the time.

He said in a bid to address that, the BDP has agreed to hold its primaries earlier to give those who lost time to heal.

Dimeku denied allegations that he collapsed when the results were announced saying that even though he expected positive results he was not that sad as he is still very sure that the BCP have not grown in the ward.

He said: “What I don’t want is for the BCP to grow in the Boikago/Madiba ward and I am sure that it hasn’t. If I could have won, my main aim was to totally eliminate it here. I know that the current situation can be corrected so it is up to the BDP to regain the ward. I shall stand again and I believe the people shall vote wisely as this loss will not hit back on me, but it will be a lesson to them as to who is the bad person. I believe this happened for a purpose”.

Dimeku, who is currently relying on his advertising business, says in the meantime he shall go back to his executive coordinator position at the Youth Centre where he has been volunteering as he says his loss has not affected his future. He is hopeful that the BDP diehards will introspect and put aside conflicts as well as the divisive issue of tribalism.

Kinnear, however denied compromising Dimeku.

“All such allegations are untrue. Dimeku is my friend and there is no way I could have sabotaged him and even after he lost to Gabathusi, I sent him a message to show him that he is my friend but he never responded. Even though I was unhappy and felt that I was cheated at the primaries I ended up giving up and helping in the campaign,” said Kinnear.

He said the party leadership showed interest in both of them and asked them to negotiate on whom to stand against the BCP, but since no one begged down, they both stood.

“However, I heard some rumours that Dimeku had told people that I compromised which was not true and I sent him a message via Facebook asking him about the rumours which he denied but still told me that even party elders had showed interest in him,” Kinnear further said.

He said he handed his resignation letter from the BDP ward chairmanship and indicated that he was also standing during a meeting addressed by Ntuane.

He said: “Other people from the branch abandoned some of their positions saying they want to campaign for one candidate. One BDP councillor gave Dimeku a combi to use for campaigning at primaries, which showed that many people were on his side. When he campaigned he told people that I was his campaign manager; that I was not standing with him and that the party had selected him.

“That made people furious because they knew well that I was also standing and that Dimeku was sabotaging me. We got into elections everything showing that I was cheated; people were tricked by my name. All the seven spoilt ballots had my name, but it was not written properly and two ballots were missing. I indicated that I didn’t accept the results, but I was called names.” Kinnear added that the branch came to him nine days after the primaries asking him to support Dimeku and he told them that he had already dissolved his campaign team, which left the MP furious.

“The BDP had an impact on the BCP win, not me because there were so many issues and people were angry. That’s where the fight between the party chairman in the area, Sam Maleka and the MP started and the MP calling him a snake,” he added.

Kinnear vehemently denied sabotaging Dimeku.

“He had pride. He expected the elders to vote for him because our ward is very big. Him and his family were bad mouthing me. I was called a ‘lekutwane’ and that I come from Masharia ward and that angered the people who were behind me. My campaign manager, Moseki Otukile ended up being fired from the team and he ended up joining the BCP campaign team,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kinnear made it clear that he will also stand again for the 2019 elections.