26 Jan 2020

The Sorilatholo ward council candidate in the 2019 general elections, Mr Maneke Segootsane has said the outcome of the election would have been different had it not been for the Alliance for Progressives (AP) symbol on the ballot paper.

Mr Segootsane told the court that AP did not have a representative therefore the party symbol should not have appeared on the ballot paper.

He said on the day of elections on October 23 in the morning, he noticed an AP symbol on the ballot paper and informed one Ms Dintwe who was overseeing the elections at Kaudwane Primary School.

“Ms Dintwe did not pay attention to what I was saying. It was as if I was not a human being as she did not bother to even look at me as I was talking,” he told the court.

He said still not giving him attention she told him that there was nothing wrong with the symbol being on the ballot paper.

Mr Segootsane said he went away but came back later and explained to Ms Dintwe that the AP symbol was going to cause confusion for the voters of which she responded saying voting was continuing and could not be stopped.

He said the AP symbol was not an issue only at the polling station he was at but even at other polling stations.

He said after the elections, he went to the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) office to record his complaint.

“As results were being released the following day there were ballots which were marked AP and I had lost to BDP with a margin of 39 votes. That means if all the ballots that were marked AP were credited to me, then I would be the winner,” he said.

He further said as results were released, one Solomon Phetolo accepted the results on his behalf but he had not sent him to do so.

“All I want is for this court to declare the 2019 election results for Sorilatholo ward unlawful, and also declare the council seat for the ward vacant because AP did not have a candidate but its symbol appeared on the ballot paper,” he said.

When asked by his attorney, Mr Onalethata Kambai the total number of votes he got for all the parties during the inspection of election material for the case the previous day, second respondent, BDP attorney Mr Basimane Bogopa objected on grounds that according to the Act it was only the IEC which could give the court the exact number of votes as it was possible that the candidate might get them wrong or mixed up.

When asked if there was anyone who came to him and complained about the AP symbol being on the ballot and why he did not bring them to court, Mr Segootsane said he could not have brought people to come and testify about something that was on the ballot papers, adding that ballot papers were enough evidence.

Mr Bogopa told the court that if all the ballots were to be added to the ones Mr Segootsane had, he would still have not been victorious.

“There were 19 ballots which were marked for AP, eight marked AP and UDC, four marked AP and BDP, two marked AP and BPF whereas the other two were marked for BDP which is 35 in total,” he said.

He added that with a margin of 39, Mr Segootsane would still have lost the elections.

However, Mr Segootsane said whether he would have lost or not, the AP Symbol still caused confusion.

“My plea is for the court to declare the 2019 election results for the ward unlawful, and also declare the council seat for the ward vacant because AP did not have a candidate but its symbol appeared on the ballot paper,” he said.

The election results for the ward showed that UDC got 486, BDP got 525, BPF got 88 and 56 votes were spoilt.

The case is set to resume on February 7 and the petitioners are to file and serve respondents by January 31 and respondents are to file and serve the petitioner by February 2. ENDS