Come general elections next October, BCP secretary general, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang promises changes in the control of the Francistown East, South and West constituencies. Buoyed by the recent victory in the Francistown West by-election that was characterised by a low voter turn out, Gobotswang classifies all the three constituencies of Francistown as ‘winnable’ in the forthcoming general elections. He admits though that considering the good performance by the BDP in the 2009 General Elections, the BCP will have to double its efforts to oust the BDP. In the last general elections, the BDP won all the three constituencies convincingly.
In Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi won with 4,024 votres followed by BCP’s Vain Mamela with 3,546 votes. Bernard Balikani representing the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) was voted by 289 people, followed by Joseph Mumba of the Botswana National Front (BNF) with 280 votes. Dr Elmon Tafa who was an independent candidate garnered 56 votes ahead of MELS’ Tobokani Amos who trailed behind with a paltry 26. Between the 2009 General Elections to date, a lot of changes have taken place. Most significantly, a split of the BDP means its former main man Mmolotsi crossed the floor in 2010 and pioneered the formation of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). Then, Mamela lost the constituency by a marginal 478 votes. In the impending general elections, Mmolotsi, whose party has joined forces with BNF and BPP to form opposition cooperation, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), will have to compete for a pool of people who gave him the parliamentary seat in 2009 with the current BDP candidate retired district commissioner, Sylvia Muzila.
