19 Jul 2016

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has retained the Kelemogile ward council seat in Ramotswa during a bye-election on July 16.
The BCP which was represented by Ms Seitiso Ditlhong was voted by 826 voters against Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) Mr Best Mosadi who was voted by 725 voters and 11 votes were deemed spoiled.
The bye election followed the death of councillor Molemi Rakgomo of BCP who won the ward during the 2014 general elections with 1069 votes while BDP gained 550 and Umbrella For Democratic Change got 65 votes
But the Saturday’s bye-election saw the BCP which was backed by other opposition parties winning with a reduced margin.
In an interview, Ms Ditlhong promised to serve the people of Kelemogile ward and link them with government programmes and institutions.
She said among her priorities will be to ensure that her ward residents benefitted from development programmes such as poverty eradication programme and Youth Development Fund to uplift their livelihoods.
She further said she will work hand in hand with school Parents Teachers Associations since the schools in her ward were not performing well.
The BCP campaign manager Mr Samuel Rantuana said the campaign went according to their plan and they managed to retain the seat.
He said because they had fielded a youthful candidate, they had to double their efforts to ensure that residents trusted the candidate.
Mr Mosadi thanked the electorates saying it was not an easy task given the previous election margin.
However he said they were grateful that they have managed to reduce the margin and added that the race was intensive.
BDP campaign manager Mr Matshidiso Fologang said the campaign went well even though they did not win.
He also said he was grateful that his party has managed to reduce the BCP margin and added they accept the defeat.
Nonetheless Mr Fologang decried what he termed ‘political tourists’ saying people from other constituencies campaigned in the ward.
The returning officer Mr Odiseng Moruti said the election process went accordingly but there were minor hiccups.
He said there were some political party activists who grouped outside polling stations to campaign for their candidates but they managed to quell that with the help of the police.
A total of 2 350 were eligible to vote while only 1 562 voted. ENDS