06 Jun 2023

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) women’s wing chairperson, Ms Peggy Serame has urged her colleagues to always seek the truth in information shared on social media platforms against the party.

Ms Serame was addressing the Francistown region BDP women’s wing on Saturday.

“It is surprising to see fellow democrats going with the flow when people are criticising the party on things they do not have truth about,” she said.

She cited the issues about government and DeBeers as well as the cattle breeds bought from the United States of America as examples which were currently making circles on social media.

“A lot of negativity is being said and it is upon the democrats to defend with correct information. We need to seek clarification from the party leadership rather than going with hearsay. Some people are just good at criticising even on things that are good and beneficial to the nation,” she said.

She added that democrats should by now understand the position of their party and those against them, adding the ruling party would nonetheless continue to put the interest of Batswana first and do good for them.

Moreover, Ms Serame said statistics showed that women population was higher than of men and often women were the ones at the forefront of campaigning for men to take up political positions.

However, she encouraged them to turn the tables around and move to take up leadership positions in the political arena and have men do the campaigning for them.

“It seems as though women have fear or doubt their capabilities to stand against men but as much as they can convince electorates to vote a particular man, let it be their eye opener that they can do it themselves. I urge you to support one another as women for it is possible we can win if we stand together,” she said.

For her part, the women’s empowerment committee chairperson, Ms Chengedzi Chinyepi said 51 per cent of the Botswana’s population were women and therefore should have confidence to contest and support one another to win.

Ms Chinyepi urged women to do away with fear as it shattered their self-esteem hence they needed to be empowered and be financially stable to challenge for positions in politics. “To survive in the political game, one needs to be empowered and the ruling party has established policies as well programmes not only for the BDP affiliates but Batswana in general to benefit from them,” she said.

On one hand, BDP political education committee chairperson, Mr Goitseone Phane advised them to adhere to their party rules and regulations.

“So far, campaigning for Bulela Ditswe is not yet opened and the democrats should take note of it and not go against the rules,” Mr Phane said.

Furthermore, he said those taking part in it should understand that it was a win or loss challenge and the outcome must not make them turn against one another but continue to strive towards winning elections for the BDP. ENDS