BDP primaries in disarray

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday January 22, 2018 17:15

 

The polling stations were supposed to be opened by 6am but in the majority of cases, voting started late as the presiding officers had to prepare the place first.

In other polling stations there was a mix-up of names in the ballot papers and at places like Ramotswa, the names which were supposed to appear at Ketshwere Bothata polling station were at Magopane polling station.

As if that was not enough, elderly people had to be sent back and told to come back in the evening as their names did not appear in the voters’ roll.

Others had to wait for hours to be issued with membership cards, which were processed on the same day at the office.

“I did not open on time because the classroom that were given to us for elections had no electricity. We had to ask for another one from the school head. “It looks like most of the names of people we have on the voters’roll are those who were suppose to vote at Ketshwere Bothata polling station, but if a member is not in our roll, we simply ask the person to check at the nearest polling station,” presiding officer Aobakwe Tlhabalaka said.

At Malete Dingaka polling station which was one of the busiest at Ramotswa, the presiding officer, Marumo Modise was worried that some members did not have membership cards despite their names appearing on the voters’ roll.

“The issue of membership cards has delayed us also. We had thought that some membership cards, especially for those whose names appear in the voters’ roll would be brought before polling stations could open. We understand the office is open to address some of these problems,” Modise said.

At Mogoditshane East polling station, people started voting around 8:45am because the tent was pitched late.

The polling station was one of the busiest and it had registered 1,027 members who were supposed to cast vote.

The presiding officer, Allen Ntshekisang said, “I had asked people who do not have membership cards, but their names appear on the voters’ roll to come around 6 pm or 4 pm to check if their membership cards had arrived from the office so that they could vote.

We have submitted their names to the party office so that their cards could be processed.

“I had asked that those elderly should be taken back home and be brought around that time. The situation is very unfortunate”.

Though the missing cards arrived late in some polling stations, members managed to vote.