25 Aug 2014

All politicians should observe the code of conduct for political parties as the election day draws nearer.

The plea was made by the South East District principal elections officer, Ms Thandy Sethatho-Job during an elections stakeholders meeting in Ramotswa recently.

Ms Sethatho-Job said from the previous election experience, it had become a norm for politicians to disregard the code of conduct as they embarked on a last minute attempt to lure voters. “Usually when campaign intensifies after the issuing of writ of elections, some will start to disregard the code of conduct,” she said.

Furthermore, Ms Sethatho-Job pointed out that the code of conduct was decided by all political parties, hence the need for them to give it credibility. Among the common deeds included pulling down of opponent’s campaign materials, using abusive language and disregarding council bye laws when using public address system.

Ms Sethatho-Job said politicians were not allowed to use any public address system between 9 p.m and 5 a.m so as to accord people a chance to sleep. On others issues, Ms Sethatho-Job encouraged politicians to file their election campaign expenses as required by the Electoral Act.

She said the law required that such expenses should be filed within 90 days after elections. She said the common trend was that politicians normally disregarded the law after losing the elections.

Ms Sethatho-Job said filing of elections expenses did not mean that the IEC would refund the candidates, but it was done as a law requirement. Further, she told the party representatives that her office was currently faced with high volumes of people who wanted to transfer.

However, she said it had come to their attention that some transfers were not done in good faith, hence they were vigilant and they would not transfer unless they were satisfied that the request was genuine.

She added that transfers will remain open until August 28 and pleaded with all those who registered to vote in the October 24 general elections.

The half day stakeholders’ consultative meeting had brought together those from Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), media and civil social from within the South East District. Ends