Securing 1,014 votes, Manake who was contesting her first ever election beat area veteran Opelo Makhandlela in the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primaries. Makhandlela was previously BDP’s MP candidate in the area in the 2014 General Election and managed only 859 votes. The weekend Bulela Ditswe triumph didn’t come as a surprise because it is said that Manake had been visible in the area months before the elections and had been positioning herself. What the Phikwe residents disclosed during the election is that they have seen more of Manake than Makhandlela and that the former has been engaged in almost everything in the former mining town.
Manake didn’t just win against all odds, but she also managed to fend off a social media campaign against her. There were seven wards at stake in Phikwe West but Manake managed to win five of them which showed that she was far ahead of her opponent on the ground. Manake who is the patron of the biggest football club in Phikwe, Nico United, is said to have amassed votes from the premier league outfit. Besides Nico, Manake was everywhere from social clubs to non-profit organisations. One of the BDP members said over the past few months, Manake has canvassed the area and won the hearts of Phikwe residents in a way that no political newbie has ever done before.
The member said Manake has also put her resources into the campaign and acted like she was readying for the general election. Even though Makhandlela was a hurdle in her way, it is said that Manake had set herself a far ahead target which is removing incumbent legislator Dithapelo Keorapetse of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) at the upcoming October polls. Manake believes the area is wide open after Keorapetse chose the UDC following his expulsion from the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). Keorapetse has won the legislative seat for the area since 2014. There is also a BCP candidate, Reuben Kaizer, in the mix and Manake’s win will set up an interesting battle in a few months to come. After Manake was announced as the winner, one of Makhandlela’s frustrated supporters shouted that they would transfer their vote to Kaizer in October.
One thing some of the BDP members have said constantly is that they rarely vote for candidates who have beaten their preferred ones in the primaries. But Manake’s win was a consolation for President Mokgweetsi Masisi who had lost some of his Cabinet members in the two-phased primary elections. So far out of the five female ministers who had contested in the primaries, only Manake and Anna Mokgethi managed to secure candidacy.
