I am your friend - Nyeku

The Philip Matante East ward candidate for the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Uyapo Nyeku has called on residents to vote for him in the by-election scheduled for April 23rd. 

He wants to succeed his brother Shadreck who won the ward in the 2014 general election but died after a short illness in January this year. Nyeku said at his launch rally that he had offered himself to represent the people of Philip Matante East ward because he is their friend. 

“We are living in difficult times where proper ideas are needed for us to go forward. Peter Nare’s ideas cannot take you anywhere,” said Nyeku. He identified lack of street lights and an insufficient drainage system as his priority areas should he go to council. 

“The condition of our internal roads in this ward also has to be addressed as a matter of urgency because our homes are not accessible to taxis. People get dropped far away from their houses because the roads are so bad,” said Nyeku. For his part, the vice president of the UDC, Ndaba Gaolathe said that under the BDP, Botswana is a forgotten nation. “We are a nation forgotten by those in power. They forgot NDP 11. They forgot the national vision,” said Gaolathe who added that, had the BDP government been serious, Vision 2036 would have already started. 

“Government should have long set it in motion instead of waiting until now,” said the UDC leader. “Vote for Nyeku because he cannot forget his community,” he appealed. The president of the BCP, Dumelang Saleshando accused the ruling BDP of using modern apartheid especially regarding service delivery. “Our health and education facilities discriminate the majority of the people. It is the minority that live well while the majority suffers,” observed Saleshando. 

Saleshando said that if President Ian Khama had a wife and needed medical attention and was taken to one of the local medical facilities, those responsible would lose their jobs because our medical facilities are despised by those in power due to the poor quality of service they offer. Saleshando said that the majority of citizens of this country are discriminated against with respect to plot ownership as well. 

“Since the foreigners are entitled to more land than us, it should be they singing the National Anthem which says, ‘this land belongs to us.’(Fatshe leno la rona). The citizens are indeed sojourners,” declared the BCP leader. Addressing the same rally, UDC president Duma Boko appealed to the voters to not allow the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to continue taking them lightly. 

“If you do not stop them from taking you for granted, they will not stop,” he said. 

Also talking about poor service delivery in the country, he wondered rhetorically, “Why must your child go to school where the teacher is not motivated or to a clinic where there are no drugs? Look what they give you. They give you Ipelegeng because they do not believe you deserve better. They do not even give you protective clothing as Ipelegeng labourers,” thundered Boko.