25 Mar 2018

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has retained the Ralekgetho council ward in the Moshupa/Manyana constituency following the bye-election held on March 24.

The youthful Mr Matsorotsoro Motlhajoe of the BDP took the lead from the word go and booked himself a seat at the Southern District Council with 339 votes followed by Mr Mokganedi Monare of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) with 233 and Mr Mothusiemang Malwetsi of Alliance for Progressives (AP) who trailed with 45 while 10 votes were spoilt. Only 627 out of the expected 923 registered voters in the ward voted.

The council seat fell vacant after the untimely death of Mr Calvin Rakala in January. The late Rakala had won the ward with 291 votes during the 2014 general elections, while UDC and the Botswana Congress Party each got 218 and 270 before they formed a coalition.

Speaking after the elections, returning officer Ms Sebokwane Dikgophe said the elections went well according to the plan.

For his part, Mr Motlhajoe vowed to pick up where the late Rakala had left off. He said the win was a vote of confidence on him and his party going forward.

He noted that he would use the platform to encourage residents to take up the available citizen empowerment programmes and better their lives.

However Mr Monare of the UDC said his efforts were undermined by the fact that some UDC partners were not quite on the ball during the electioneering process. He said the UDC also sold itself short in terms of branding during the campaign period.

“Visibility is very important but I think we didn’t do enough to sell the party to potential voters, even the AP did better than us in that regard,“ he said.

Mr Malwetsi was not available for interview at the time of going to press. ENDS