The outcome of these will establish who will represent the BDP in the 2014 General Elections in Kgalagadi South.
"Only Tsabong South Councillor Sam Brooks has officially written to us indicating his interest in contesting the Kgalagadi South Parliamentary seat under the BDP ticket," the branch chairperson said.Speculations and rumours have been making rounds in the district about four BDP members namely. France Van Der Westerhuizen Howard, Moses Chimbombi and Sam Brooks. Speculation is rife that have all expressed interest in vying for the often closely contested parliamentary seat. France Van Der Westerhuizen is the current Kgalagadi District Council Chairperson and also councilor for Bokspits, Vaalhoek and Rappelspan villages. Sam Brooks has been the councillor for Tsabong South since 1994 and is also the Chairperson of Tsabong Subordinate District Council Chairperson. Jimmy Howard is a youth at his age and a lecturer at Limkokwing University in Gaborone. Moses Chimbombi is a businessman and owner of Mokha Lodge in Tsabong. According Branch Chairperson Ditshetelo, the other three listed and interested members of the party have not formally written to the committee but he did not rule out the possibility that they may have applied directly to the BDP Head office in Gaborone. He said: "But it would be unusual since all the candidates are members of this district and the protocol is very clear that they liaise with the branch leadership so that there isn't this confusion," he said.
Ditshetelo told The Monitor that at a recently held the district branch conference held at Makopong, only Van Der Westerhuizen made a last minute announcement of his interest in standing for Bulelwa Ditswe. Meanwhile, The Monitor has learnt from a prominent BDP member in the district that one of the candidates has already confirmed intensifying his campaign. This is something that Ditshetelo denied knowledge of, saying candidates are only allowed to conduct house-to-house campaigns once an official announcement has been made. Efforts to contact the interested candidates did not bear fruit as their phones rang unanswered or were not within the network radius coverage.
