Davids� death complicates matters in Mochudi East

Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday January 16, 2018 13:00

 

The BDP holds its primaries in the forthcoming weekend on January 20, in the 18 opposition held constituencies. There will be no contest in the seven of the 18 opposition held constituencies.

Although it’s still too fresh, Davids’ death is likely to rekindle hope for the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) that it may reclaim the constituency through a by-election.

The by-election might also be used as a yardstick to determine the winner of the 2019 general elections between the main players-UDC and BDP.  

Davids who was reportedly stabbed to death at his farm on Sunday decamped to the ruling party (from the UDC) mid last year. In the 2014 general elections Davids attracted 6,824 while the BDP’s Mmachakga Moruakgomo managed 5,941.

The then incumbent, Isaac Mabiletsa of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) was voted by 4,528 people. Mabiletsa won the constituency at the 2009 general elections with the Botswana National Front (BNF) ticket, before defecting to the BCP.

The BCP is now part of the UDC, which on paper gives the opposition coalition strength in terms of figures. Other UDC coalition members are BNF, Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Botswana Peoples Party (BPP).

The other dynamic is that Davids might have not had enough time to canvass the constituency because he left the opposition not so long ago. There is also no strong suggestion that he decamped to the BDP with many opposition followers. This explains why the BDP might lose the constituency to the UDC.

Yesterday, the BNF spokesperson Justin Hunyepa said that it is still pre-mature to discuss the prospects of the opposition in the constituency. 

“We are still mourning,” Hunyepa said.