He said the company will invest P210 million in the project and hire more than 1,000 workers. Khama made the announcement during a political rally in Selebi-Phikwe over the weekend. He said he has declared October 16 a public holiday so that many people can get a chance to cast their votes. "Batswana must go and collect their Omang (identinty) cards so that they can be able to use their right of participating in elections," he said. He stated that there are 47,000 Omang cards that have not been collected by the owners who need them to vote. He said he has been informed that between September 22 and October 16, 7,000 cards will expire.
Khama was addressing a rally to support the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) parliamentary and council candidates for Selebi-Phikwe West and East constituencies. He called on the masses to make sure BDP MPs for the area, Kavis Kario and Nonofo Molefhi, the Minister of Lands and their council candidates win the coming polls. He said he wants the two to assist him in discharging his duties as the president of the country. "I have heard that members of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) have started coaching Gilson Saleshando on presidential duties. This is interesting because none of them has ever been a president before. It is like the blind leading the blind," Khama said. He told the crowd that the government will continue developing Selebi-Phikwe so that it does not become a ghost town. He said he has mathematical proof that shows that BCP will not win the coming polls. He explained that BCP has failed to field parliamentary candidates in all the 57 constituencies.
