16 Jul 2014

Serowe South Member of Parliament (MP), Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi has encouraged Francistown West constituents to vote for Mr Ignitious Moswaane in large numbers in the coming general elections.

Speaking at the launch of Mr Moswaane as the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) parliamentary candidate for the constituency over the weekend, Dr Venson-Moitoi said the candidate was a true representative who always wanted his voters to benefit from government programmes.

She cited that when the Back-to-School programme was introduced, she spent sleepless nights as the Minister of Education and Skills Development because Mr Moswaane, was always calling her regarding the children in his ward who qualified for enrollment in the programme.

Dr Venson-Moitoi said by voting for Mr Moswaane, the residents of Francistown West constituency will be giving the BDP authority to continue with its good programmes and policies.

She explained that since the BDP has good programmes and policies, unlike the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the BDP will ensure it acquires land legally from all its lawful owners. Furthermore, she cited that the BDP had previously done so and bought free hold land in the North East district and Gerald Estate to allocate to the people. She explained that there was war in countries where governments forcefully repossessed land from the owners.

For her part, the party’s assistant campaign manager in the constituency, Ms Angelinah Sengalo encouraged democrats to ensure the BDP won the constituency together with the other 56 constituencies around the country. She said Mr Moswaane should be voted in the upcoming general elections and that the incumbent constituency MP, BCP’s Dr Habaudi Hobona should not be given another chance.

Monarch East councillor, Mr Raoboy Mpuang apologised to the democrats for defecting to the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), a BDP splinter party in 2010, and said he was a testimony that opposition parties were not parties to associate with.

He criticised Dr Hobona for expelling the constituency office employees after she won the bye-elections.

Mr Mpuang said he worked with Mr Moswaane when they were both councillors and during that time, the candidate was one of the hardworking councillors and as a result of his hard work, Monarch ward got streetlights.

Nata/Gweta parliamentary candidate, Mr Paulson Majaga implored democrats to keep their national voter registration cards safely in order to have an opportunity to vote in the general elections.

Francistown South parliamentary candidate, Ms Sylvia Muzila said BDP is the only party with good programmes and policies. She condemned the BCP manifesto saying it is a copy of the BDP manifesto and only the wording was different.

Francistown East parliamentary candidate, Mr Buti Billy said should Mr Moswaane be given a chance to be the area MP, he will do more than what he did while he was the area councillor.

He said Dr Hobona should not be given another chance and noted that she took advantage of the differences that prevailed in the BDP during the constituency’s bye-elections early this year.

For his part, Mr Moswaane appealed to residents to vote for him in large numbers as he would advocate for one of the secondary schools in Francistown to also serve as a brigade after normal school hours.

He observed that secondary schools were under utilised as they were only used during the day and such brigades he advocates for could offer lessons on hair dressing and beauty therapy and empower locals to take over the city salons, which he said were mostly ran by foreigners. ENDS