Goodhope-Mmathethe becomes BDP’s real headache
The Goodhope-Mmathethe constituency is turning out to be a political hot potato for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) as the party battles internal fights.
Fresh information uncovered by Botswana Guardian is that there is a clash within the party structures on deciding the date to hold the Bulela-Ditswe re-run between Minister of Health Dr Edwin Dikoloti and Minister of Finance Peggy Serame for the constituency.
The BDP central committee has called for a re-run after overturning a decision of the Southern Regional Committee that rejected Serame’s appeal. According to insiders, there are plans to move the election dates to the 21st of September 2024. There is allegedly contention in the constituency as democrats want to have the re-run held on the 14th of September 2024. According to sources, the party is awaiting a final word from President Mokgweetsi Masisi on which date the re-run should be held.
It is alleged that the plan to move the re-run to the 21st of September 2024 follows intelligence gathered in the constituency which suggests that Serame’s team has failed to make inroads and there is a high possibility of losing again. Sources in the constituency this week expressed concern that should elections be held on the 21st of September 2024, there is a threat for the party in fielding a candidate for the 30th October General Election.
“If we have the elections on the 21st of September this year, we might run the risk of having a nominee MP. Remember nomination is expected to be done on the 4th of October 2024.
“If a candidate is not satisfied with the outcome, s/he has seven (7) days to appeal in writing. What if the person appeals on the 7th day to the region? When not satisfied, the matter will go to the central committee which will also take time,” a source pointed out.
It is also feared that considering the level of tense relationship in the constituency, the matter is likely to reach the court of law by the dissatisfied or disgruntled candidate. BDP Electoral Board Chairperson Peter Siele told this publication on Wednesday that the date is yet to be announced. “Once the date has been decided and announced, we will share it with the media,” Siele said.
It has emerged that the re-run was granted due to the failure by the Returning Officer to take the ballot papers for safekeeping. According to a letter of clarity sent to the Electoral Board ‘all’ the ballot boxes and other material used on the 21st and 22nd were never collected by the Returning Officer.
“I wish to place it on the record that I met the Returning Officer, Mr. Thabo Majola on the evening of Friday the 19th July as part of the Pre-Election Debriefing he called for the benefit of the Branch Committee and Candidates at large.
“As is procedure I assumed an observer role throughout the time the elections were delayed and through the election process once it finally ensued,” Goodhope-Mmathethe Branch chairperson Phillip Sebakile said in a letter of clarity.
He said on Monday 22 July he was not made aware of any instruction by the Region or by the PEEC Deployee on handling of any Election Material. In the late afternoon of Monday 22nd July he received a call from Deputy Chairperson, Mantsha Sekgororoane alluding to the fact that the Returning Officer had left the election material that was used on election-day and that she had taken custody of them.
Sebakile said Sekgororoane told him that she called the Returning Officer to alert him that he had left the ballot boxes behind.
“My Deputy assumed that there were probably ballot papers in the boxes so she feared she could be destroying valuable data. On the 16th of August 2024 through a telephone call I made to my Deputy Branch Chairperson, Ms Mantsha Sekgororoane, I was surprised to learn that ‘all’ the ballot boxes and other material used on the 21st and 22nd were still in her possession and that the Returning Officer never came to collect them,” Sebakile said.
This week the Goodhope-Mmathethe Constituency Deputy Chairperson Mantsha Sekgororoane was slapped with a suspension letter for 60 days by President Mokgweetsi Masisi. In the letter Masisi indicates that the suspension follows Sekgororoane’s conduct and handling of the recent Goodhope-Mmathethe primary elections. According to the President, the deputy chairperson is suspended pending investigations and disciplinary hearing
following a complaint lodged against her. Sekgororoane confirmed receiving the letter on Tuesday this week.
She however said she cannot discuss the party internal matters further and suggested that questions be directed to the regional committee of the party secretary general.