UDC loses ground in southern strongholds

Since the days of Kgosi Bathoen II of Bangwaketse, who gave up bogosi to join politics, Kanye in particular has always been capital of opposition politics in Botswana. The opposition’s popularity in the South extended to the Kgalagadi in the past.

Bathoen joined the Botswana National Front (BNF) in 1968, ahead of the country’s second general elections in 1969. The BNF won all the three constituencies in the Southern District except Moshupa. These constituencies had been won by the BDP in 1965. The late president Sir Ketumile Masire was one of the victims as he lost in 1969.