Voter registration postponed as IEC, UDC squabble
Wednesday, November 01, 2023 | 2580 Views |
Registration clerk busy at work PIC- KENNEDY RAMOKONE
The period which officially starts the election cycle was supposed to run from November 1 to November 30, 2023 but it will now run from November 13 to December 8, 2023. The Francistown High court’s Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe yesterday issued a rule nisi calling the respondent ,being the IEC and other interested parties to show cause on November 7, 2023 why the UDC registration clerks should be interdicted and restrained from monitoring the national elections registration process.
The court decision meant that the UDC observers were supposed to temporarily start their observation today until the court’s final determination on November 7. The IEC’s swift move to amend the registration period means that the UDC observers won’t go near their polling stations until the matter is made a final order by the High Court.
Acting Agriculture Minister, Edwin Dikoloti, is right in saying opening an export-ready facility whilst Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is still spreading would risk getting the whole country blacklisted before a single carcass leaves the door.A ban like that would break the already stressed nation. So, the postponement, painful as it is, is the right thing to do. The local economy is being squeezed from both ends. FMD has already slammed the door...