Hunyepa will face BDP parliamentary candidate Simon Moabi in the contest for Tati-West constituency and Botswana Congress Party’s (BCP)'s Leornard Mutheto for the 2024 General Election slated for October 30. Moabi topped Tshepo Makhani of the UDC with 6236 votes, and the Botswana Patriotic Front’s Biggie Butale trailed behind with 1622 and 76 spoilt votes in the 2019 general elections.
According to the disappointed Hunyepa , the BDP has just started advertising their parliamentary and council candidates, but now they have been removing UDC posters which have long been assembled two months ago.
He said that most of their posters were destroyed in villages such as Masunga, Mlambakwena and surrounding areas. He further made allegations against local BDP campaign team of destroying and or folding some of their posters for the UDC MP and council candidates and replacing them with theirs.
Hunyepa has pula for printing the same posters unlike the BDP candidates who are funded by the party.
"What little we have for our campaign is being sabotaged by the damage they are causing in the constituency. They are trying everything in their power to sabotage us, even though we are not free to take advantage of State resources the way they do," he said.
He remarked that despite their complaints to both the BDP campaign team and Moabi, nothing has been done so far to address the matter.
"All we want is a campaign that is fair and peaceful for everyone. This explains why we haven't struck back after their wicked actions. We have allowed it to continue, and individuals from various communities have even brought up the matter, "he declared worriedly.
Hunyepa further said that the people will judge for themselves and determine who is a better leader.
Additionally, he said that the actions of the BDP members are a reflection of the BDP-led government.
For his part Moabi did not dismiss the allegations, he explained that they discovered recently that some of their posters were placed over the ones belonging to the UDC candidates.
He said after discovering the issue, they had discussed with their teams to move the BDP posters to a different place. He further said they were dissatisfied that though the posters were hung on top of UDC candidates in some of the wards, theirs were fully removed.
"Our posters were removed in areas such as Makaleng and Botalaote villages and we suspected that the UDC removed them," he explained. He said that such behaviour is not ethical and it's uncalled for for both parties.
The BDP man also indicated that all party candidates should be given equal opportunity to be displayed through their respective posters. “We need to understand that before politics, our unity and harmony make us all Batswana,” he added.
