17 May 2018

Tomorrow, four months after the death of the then councillor for Moselewapula ward in Francistown West constituency, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will hold a bye-election for the vacant council ward.

The late Mr Lechedzani Mudenga was a councillor for the Botswana Democratic Party.

Francistown IEC principal elections officer, Mr Nyanga Nyanga explained in an interview that preparations for the bye-election were moving smoothly.

He said his office has been working with the Omang office to ensure that prospective voters who had lost their Omang cards were issued with new ones to vote tomorrow.

Mr Nyanga also said his office has been addressing kgotla meetings to sensitise residents about the importance of voting. He added that Batswana should use their constitutional right and vote for the candidate of their choice.

Three parties, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will contest the bye-election.

Umbrella for Democratic Change will be represented by Mr Rueben Ketlhoilwe, Alliance for Progressives by Mr Odireleng Ditshotlo while the BDP has fielded Mr Gilbert Boikhutso.

All the three parties have launched their candidates.  Mr Ketlhoilwe was launched by the party’s deputy leader, Mr Dumelang Saleshando while Mr Ditshotlo was launched by party leader, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe and the BDP chairman and Vice President,

Mr Slumber Tsogwane launched Mr Boikhutso.

Each candidate promised to deliver on their promises when voted to council.

Mr Ketlhoilwe promised that he would turn the Gerald Estate Clinic into a primary hospital that would accommodate the entire Gerald Estate community.

He also promised that he would advocate for a senior secondary school in Moselewapula ward.

Mr Ditshotlo said he would advocate for a Central Business District in Gerald Estate where Moselewapula was located, adding that the business place would open market places which residents could utilise to uplift their lives.

He said the ward was still lagging behind in terms of developments, and that  his intention was to bring developments such as street lights and the upgrading of internal roads to bitumen standard.

Mr Boikhutso on the other hand said he had a lot of initiatives to implement upon being voted to council. He said they include advocating for a secondary school in the area, installation of street lights and the improvement of dusty roads in the ward.

He said most of his programmes and initiatives would be geared towards uplifting the lives of the youth as evidenced by the formation of a traditional group called “Chilenge” in the area.

The IEC has established six polling stations in the ward. In the 2014 general elections, the BDP won the seat with 663 votes followed by Botswana Congress Party with 379 and UDC with 142. Trailing last was an independent candidate with 120 votes. Ends