Few Numbers Win Katse BDP Primaries
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday February 6, 2017 17:24
This has got the party worried as expressed by the chief elections officer Lesego Raditanka.
Elijah Katse emerged the winner after being voted by 526, Thulaganyo Segokgo 302 and Dr Phineas Molefe 94 and four spoiled vote.
From the time polling stations opened in the morning, the mood was low with a few people showing up. The party also seemed not to be prepared as some polling stations opened late due to unavailability of keys, amongst other reasons.
“The turn out of BDP members at the primary election is not pleasing at all. I don’t think all BDP members were aware of the primaries and I hope some were held up. There is need for our members to take primaries very serious. Everything went peacefully except that some polling stations started late because classroom keys were availed late,” Raditanka said in an interview.
Raditanka said the other challenge they faced was that some members were not there in the voters’ roll but had BDP cards.
He continued; “We managed to help some. Some were in the voters’ roll, but they did not have membership cards hence the cards were printed. So we had to keep on asking the branch committee to re-check their membership cards because there were many, and we managed”.
After the announcement was made around 10pm, Raditanka encouraged both participants in the primaries and the winner to work together.
“Katse, this is the time for you to have a good working relationship with Segokgo and Molefe. If you are going to sideline them and their teams, then you will lose. I am saying this with experience of what happened at Palapye ward by-election. It is BDP that has won here and people should not by any chance try to celebrate your win. We have to face the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) united,” he said. He advised members who may want to appeal that they could do so within seven days.
However Segokgo and Molefe promptly accepted the results and encouraged members to rally behind Katse. “BDP members have spoken and now the bigger picture is the party. There is need to join hands for us to win this by election,” Segokgo said.
For his part Katse, whose face radiated with a smile said; “Democracy has prevailed. We were five at the beginning, but two dropped out because of the love of the party and three were left. “
“I want to thank all of them because they are also credible men to be candidates of this constituency. Peace has been prevailing amongst us even when the leadership had asked us to talk amongst ourselves. I want to urge members to work together for the BDP to win the area,” Katse said.
The Tlokweng constituency parliamentary seat became vacant after the death of the area MP Same Bathobake. Katse will now face Kenneth Masego Segokgo of the UDC in the by-election.