The two had a feisty battle for the constituency in 2019. Makgato, who returned to Botswana following completion of her ambassadorial duties last year, won the highly contested election, defeating Derrick Ramaano by 2,690 to his 1,510 votes. The ever-bubbly, feisty and outspoken former Cabinet minister is amongst the few BDP women who will contest in the upcoming general election. Makgato, who lost the parliamentary seat for the area to Gobotswang of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in 2019, has booked another date with the latter during this year's general election.
The former minister of Health will not need any motivation as her 2019 loss to Gobotswang marked a bad history record for her and the BDP as they lost the area for the first time to opposition. In 2019, she was up against a combined opposition bloc which included BCP, Botswana National Front, and Botswana People's Party, as well as former president Ian Khama's Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF). For the upcoming election, she will have to navigate through two men, Gobotswang, whose party has left the opposition bloc, and Shadreck Baaitse of the Umbrella for Democratic Change. Before her victory in the Saturday election, Makgato had expressed optimism about the BDP's chances to reclaim the constituency despite her long absence in the area. "I'm very optimistic about our constituency. However, right now my focus is on Bulela Ditswe. I can only talk about the future once we are through with this and tell you exactly what is there for us but I'm very optimistic," she earlier said.
