As the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) sets its sights on clinching all the North West region’s seven constituencies in the October polls, Chobe constituency currently under the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) remains a top priority, Mmegi Staffer SPIRA TLHANKANE writes
Recently, party president Dumelang Saleshando even compared Chobe to the biblical parable of the ‘lost sheep’. After the Delimitation Commission increased the number of North West constituencies from five to seven, it means that besides Chobe the BCP will be targeting the new constituencies of Maun North and the other Okavango constituency after the latter was split into two. Currently, the BCP holds four constituencies of the North West namely Ngami, Maun West, Maun East, and Okavango.
The North West region is Botswana’s wildlife corridor and the tourism heartland.
Saleshando told BCP members recently that the party yearns for Chobe because it is the lost sheep, which has been missing since incumbent MP Machana Shamukuni took it from BCP’s late Gibson Nshimwe in 2014. Shamukuni later retained Chobe in the 2019 General Election by beating Oscar Mapulanga of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
Following the BCP’s exit from the UDC coalition, the BCP will once again send Mapulanga to search for the ‘lost sheep’ this time around donning lime colours. Speaking of the lost sheep, in Matthew 18: 10-14, Jesus tells the parable of the ‘lost sheep’ to show that the Kingdom of God is accessible to all. He uses the example of a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one goes missing. The shepherd leaves the 99 others and searches high and low for the lost sheep. Jesus stresses that when the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he rejoices over it more than the 99 who did not go astray.
According to Saleshando, this is how the BCP will rejoice if the party manages to snatch the Chobe constituency from the ruling BDP. During Mapulanga’s launch last Saturday in Kasane, Saleshando could not help but emphasise the need for BCP to win back the constituency they once held between 2009 and 2014 under the late Nshimwe. Saleshando indicated that when Mapulanga has found the ‘lost sheep’, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. He emphasised that Mapulanga is determined and resilient because he lost in 2019 but still managed to return and try his luck again.
He said Mapulanga long took a decision to face the ups and downs with the people of Chobe.
Besides Chobe, the BCP in their quest for the North West seven will be targeting a new constituency Okavango East where they have fielded Gabatsholwe Disho.
Disho is the owner of Safari Company, Bush Lark Safaris, and was declared the BCP candidate for the Okavango East constituency after beating Kabelo Mahupe in the primaries. Disho has been involved in the tourism industry for many years and has followed his passion for wildlife, conservation and photography.
The man from the remote village of Ngarange on the banks of the Okavango Pan Handle is new to politics. The BCP, nevertheless, believes he is the right candidate to become the first-ever legislator for the new constituency.
“This is BCP’s home and this is a new constituency. People who have contested with Disho in the primaries have accepted the results and will support him in the polls.
This is democracy that exists in the BCP while other parties are fighting tooth and nail,” Saleshando said when they launched Disho in Seronga. Saleshando said when it comes to issues of tourism, Disho is the most outstanding because the latter is all he knows more than anything.
“He knows the art like the back of his hand,” he said. In Okavango, former deputy Commissioner of the Botswana Police Service (BPS) and current Okavango legislator, Kenny Kapinga, will contest in the West after his constituency was divided into two. In the 2019 General Election, Kapinga defeated then incumbent Bagalatia Arone with a margin of 761 votes as he garnered 7, 577 votes to Arone’s 6, 816. Initially, Kapinga was amongst the five BCP MPs who were expelled by the party for defiance but after consultation with his constituents, he apologised and was welcomed back into the BCP fold.
There was a dilemma before incumbent Ngami MP Caterpillar Hikuama took the decision to switch to Maun West, but the BCP felt that the MP was just what they needed to take over all the seven North West constituencies. In 2019, incumbent MP Hikuama managed to snatch the Ngami constituency from BDP’s Thato Kwerepe but now he has to retain Maun West which was won by Saleshando.
Now that Hikuama will contest in Maun West, he has made way for a new candidate in Ngami. After a contest in the primaries, Phillimon Aaron ended up securing the candidacy for the constituency. Aaron was earlier this year launched in Gumare when the BCP president, Saleshando, expressed that he and Aaron were like Siamese twins. Aaron has a track record in the tourism sector and is regarded as the true son of the soil.
The vocal BCP secretary-general (SG), Kekgonegile is defending Maun East, a constituency he won in 2019 under the UDC.
Kekgonegile previously lost Maun East to Kostantinos Markus of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2014 but he managed to overcome his rival in 2019. He is considered a strong candidate and expected to easily retain the seat as the BCP targets the seven North West constituencies.
Following the creation of another Maun constituency, Saleshando will now contest in Maun North as he also challenges for the presidency. The former Gaborone Central legislator needs no introduction and after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the UDC’s Phenyo Butale in 2014, Saleshando switched to Maun West in 2019 after his party joined the UDC. Saleshando is now moving again to Maun North but this time around he does not have to go far.
Currently, the majority of the North West constituencies have become BCP strongholds. Some like Ngami used to belong to the BDP during former minister Jacob Nkate’s time as MP but BCP and the now defunct Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) combined force entrenched the BCP’s footprint in the area.
The North West region has never been a Botswana National Front (BNF) or UDC stranglehold, therefore the withdrawal of the BCP from the opposition coalition UDC is not expected to affect the party which was formed in 1998.
The real battle will be between the BDP and BCP in what will be a key race.
Although the division of Okavango could change dynamics, the BCP is still confident that they will retain the constituency, which they have dominated since the days of their late former legislator, Joseph Kavindama.
In the end, some constituencies could become some sort of swing ones because of how both the BCP and the BDP managed to flip them back and forth over the years.