BCP confident of winning Tswapong South

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Wednesday July 25, 2012 00:00

 

BCP president, Dumelang Saleshando says while his party was growing faster than any other party in the constituency, the same could not be said for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which he said, was on a decline.

Saleshando said the growing trend of the BCP in the constituency should send a clear message to political opponents aspiring to contest for the parliamentary seat in the coming general elections.

'They (the opponents) will be fighting a losing battle,' he said in reference to the political aspirants.

Rubbishing allegations that the party was aping the BDP that held its elective congress in Sefhare in April, he said:

'We have a programme of where party activities will be held throughout the year. So it is unfounded to perceive that we were following the BDP. In fact we lead, we do not follow.'

BCP entered the political arena in 1999 when the country went for the 8th general elections. When the party contested for the constituency's parliamentary seat in the same year it lost to the BDP who attained 5 891 votes, constituting 72 percent of the total votes cast.

Botswana National Front followed with 1 867 votes, making up 23 percent of the votes cast while the BCP came third with a measly five percent after garnering only 648 votes.

During the 2009 general elections the ruling party though won the elections, experienced a decline in their voting numbers at it attained 51 percent of the votes from the previous 72 percent while BCP moved up to garner 41 percent and BNF increased its previous voting numbers by only 2 percent.

Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang got 4 175 votes against the incumbent MP Oreeditse Molebatsi. For the first time since independence BCP won three council seats from the ruling party in the same constituency.

It won Sefhare ward through councillor Mothusi Sedimo, scooped Moshopha ward through Matshediso Tsheko as well as Mokobeng/Ngwapa ward by Joseph Molamu.

Mokobeng/Ngwapa ward was lost to the BCP after the ruling party candidate contested as an independent candidate, won and then joined the BCP.

In the wards of Tumasera/Seleka and Machaneng the ruling party won with slight margins.  During the ruling party's 19th National Youth Executive Committee elective congress in April, the regional chairman Olebile Babolai appealed to the party to assist the region to win back the wards it lost to the opposition and said the BCP posed a serious threat in the region.

The youth were mostly the target, as they constituted the highest voting numbers in the last general elections in the constituency.

BCP president Dumelang Saleshando is optimistic that his party will win the Tswapong South constituency in the next general elections.

He noted during his official address that the fact that only one party has won all the elections since independence should serve as a sufficient motivation for the BCP to seek more efficient and effective ways in which it can grow its support base in all constituencies.

'Since the formation of the BCP, we have made major strides in positioning ourselves as the most attractive alternative to the ruling party.

'Tswapong South constituency is one of the many constituencies that bear testimony to the growing electoral appeal of the BCP,' he said.

He said the story of Tswapong South constituency is one of a BCP that has reduced BDP into an endangered species whose survival is very suspect hence all must draw a lesson from it.