BDP to �test drive� EVM in Tonota
Innocent Selatlhwa | Thursday July 6, 2017 18:20
Briefing the media yesterday, BDP secretary general Botsalo Ntuane said the party expects an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) representative to present on the EVM.
“We invited the IEC to present on EVM in March at our National Council, but they did not have the machine then.
We hope they will present on the machine and allow us to feel and experience the machine before discussing it and forming a position on it,” he said. Meanwhile Ntuane said preparations for the congress were at an advanced stage.
The hotly-contested and much-anticipated event will be held at the Tonota College of Education with the opening ceremony on Friday morning at the college grounds. “We will then have closed sessions where reports will be shared. Elections will take place after the president dissolves the central committee on Saturday morning,” he said.
Ntuane said only deputy secretary candidates, Louis Sibanda and Mmapula Phuduhudu have so far withdrawn their interest to contest. Ntuane, the outgoing secretary general who also wants to retain his seat against Mpho Balopi and Jacob Nkate, has reiterated his position that he does not subscribe to lobby lists, as he believes they are divisive.
He however declined to share the achievements of the outgoing central committee.
“The president will touch on that at the conference. An extensive report will be delivered by myself and other portfolios and then that is only when we can know what the members see as an achievement or not,” he said.
At the helm of the battles expected at the congress is the fight for the position of chairmanship as Nonofo Molefhi challenges Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Another thriller will be for secretary general where Balopi is in Masisi’s corner and Nkate in Molefhi’s.