29 Apr 2015

The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has started preparations for the next general elections in the Nata/Gweta constituency.

The party failed to field a candidate in the constituency during the last general elections.

When launching the party in the constituency recently, UDC deputy leader, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said the three parties that made up UDC had embarked on an aggressive journey to turn the tables around and remove the Botswana Democratic Party (BMD) from power.

Mr Gaolathe noted that Botswana National Front (BNF), Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) were urging members to intensify their efforts of recruiting more new members to their respective parties with the aim of boosting UDC.

He said only numbers could bring the much needed change into the democracy of this country, noting that at the last elections they made a historic mark.

And as such, UDC members should not relax believing there was still time. He however urged them to work hard to solidify their presence aimed at bringing change peacefully.

Often, he highlighted that, opposition parties were referred to as noisy parties, which were only looking after opportunities to cause troubles.

But, he said, this was not the case with the Umbrella as they were looking at the interest of the people, adding that the party wanted the citizens of the country to enjoy the fruits of its toil as a majority and not for the few individuals to benefit to the disadvantage of the majority.

Under the current government, the UDC deputy leader stated that people were given positions on the basis of friendship instead of their capabilities to hold posts.

He noted that Botswana had huge coal deposits but still failed to produce enough electricity for its handful population,  highlighting that this was because those tasked with responsibilities to do so did not have the capabilities and qualifications.

One of the speakers, Mr Richard Gudu said the Nata/Gweta with its vast natural resources could be flourishing in terms of developments with tourism taking centre stage.

This, however, he said was not happening as the area is governed from other local authorities being the central district council based in Serowe though they are located under a sub district in Tutume which is also far away from them.

This, he said, was not fair as services and the needs of the people were not equally distributed hence Nata/Gweta was lagging behind.

He therefore noted that their preparations for 2019 has started and said they wanted to give electorate in the constituency true representation so that they could benefit from the abundant natural resources in their area. ENDS