15 Mar 2022

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) will contest Bophirima ward in the  Gaborone Bonnington South constituency independently from the Umbrella for Democratic  Change (UDC).

Addressing members of the media on Monday, BCP secretary general, Mr  Goretetse  Kekgonegile, said the party had decided  to  field Mr Peter Mogapi as its candidate.

Mr Kekgonegile rejected the UDC declaration of Ms Mankie  Sekete as the preferred candidate for the opposition coalition in Bophirima ward.

He said the declaration was done in bad  faith since the  UDC had  never met  to discuss the  Bophirima  ward candidacy.

He said the ward was assigned to BCP to manage in the 2019 general elections and that the party acceded to a request for Ms Sekete to contest the ward following her defection from the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) to the Botswana National Front (BNF).

He noted that she was a specially elected councillor at the time.  He said the BCP, as the party assigned to manage the ward, was therefore entitled to decide on the candidate to contest on behalf of the UDC.

He added that Ms Sekete was a BNF candidate,  but not the  entire UDC as a block.

Mr Kekgonegile also said the BCP was not violating any clause in the  UDC  memorandum of agreement.

He reaffirmed the BCP’s commitment to the UDC coalition, but called for the improvement of inner party democracy and administration in the UDC, adding that there was a need for the reconciliation of all parties and to review the MoU, which was drafted based on the 2014 election results.

He said constituency allocations within the UDC needed to be reviewed since there were new UDC coalition members.

“People should be cognisant of the fact that we have new members in  the Alliance for Progressives and Botswana  Patriotic Front who both joined the coalition after the last  general elections. There is need to also include them in the constituency allocation exercise,” he said.

The Bophirima ward seat fell vacant in December last year following the death of Mr Kagiso Mongwaketse of the Botswana Democratic Party. ENDS