I am a victim of UDC witch-hunt - Phenyo Segokgo
Former Chairman of the Southeast District Council, Phenyo Segokgo, who has publicly announced that he will be contesting for elections this year under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) banner, is allegedly facing financial difficulties that are used by his opponents to discredit him as a credible candidate.
Sources say Segokgo is knee-deep in debt and that his properties are likely to be attached and auctioned to recover the money he owes. The Midweek Sun has in its possession, documents showing that Segokgo was detained at Village prison last year for failing to pay a judgement debt of P8 500.
“He still has more debts crippling him, we have been made aware that deputy sheriffs are hard on his heels. This means that his financial woes are far from over,” The Midweek Sun was informed.
Reached for comment this week, Segokgo was convinced that some politicians within the UDC are the ones plotting his downfall. At the beginning of the year, Segokgo announced that he has submitted his name to contest for
Botswana National Front (BNF) primary elections and that he is an eligible candidate to contest for Tlokweng Constituency Parliamentary seat.
Winning the primary elections will mean that he goes on to represent UDC in the 2024 general elections.
“It cannot even be the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) members, this one I feel strongly that it is coming from within the party," Segokgo said.
He complained that his personal affairs were being shared with the public because elections are fast approaching. “Party primaries are fast approaching, this is all a political witch hunt to make voters doubt me,” he said.
Segokgo conceded that indeed he had faced financial difficulties at some point in his life.
“I do not deny that I had problems. Most people go through that, it is not only me. Most politicians have been attached before,” he said.
Efforts to speak to both the UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa and BNF Secretary General Ketlhalefile Motshwegwa on insinuations made by Segokgo hit as snag as both did not answer calls made on their phones. However,
The Midweek Sun went further to engage the BNF's National Chairperson Patrick Molutsi who conceded that political office candidates were indeed in the habit of bad mouthing one another during election year, not only within the BNF or the UDC, but within and across all parties.
For now, he said, the BNF was yet to vet candidates. "However, when candidates apply, they are told to declare or indicate if they have any criminal cases; or are indebted to anybody; or are implicated in scandals likely to embarrass the party name," Molutsi said, although he could not be drawn into specifically dwelling on Segokgo's concerns.
Meanwhile, this publication has established through sources at the office of a deputy sheriff in Gaborone that they are still after Segokgo. The sources confirmed that Segokgo’s properties are being attached. However, Segokgo has denied having any outstanding debts at the moment, insisting that any amplification of the matter for now is being done to push him out of the race to represent the UDC as a Parliamentary candidate.