Pilane eyes Gaborone Central

Recent media reports that the 2019 general election will see Phenyo Butale of the Alliance For Progressives and Dumelang Saleshando of the Botswana Congress Party tussle for the Gaborone Central constituency has had the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) raise eyebrows.

In fact, what emerges from the orange movement is that unless Saleshando contests outside the Umbrella For Democratic Change, the constituency belongs to the BMD and there is no way the BCP leader could contest there against Butale. Further revelations on the matter also suggest that the BMD president Advocate Sydney Pilane is the one who will eventually stand at the constituency once the UDC has formalized the BMD membership of the coalition Gaborone Central constituency was officially given to BMD during the UDC constituency allocation and this has been buttressed by the party chairman Nehemiah Modubule who reiterated that the constituency belongs to the BMD of the UDC.

However, Modubule dismissed reports that they will field Pilane at the coveted constituency currently under Butale, who has since decamped from the BMD to the AP. He said that all he knows is that his president has never shown any interest of standing anywhere because as a party they have not communicated with any of their potential candidates to show interest at any constituency.

He added that no party under the UDC has any power or right to dictate to them which candidate to field at any constituency since BMD is a party which has its own constitution regarding how they choose candidates to represent them. Although Pilane has not officially declared his intentions, it is said it is only a matter of time before he does so. A source within the party said it should not be surprising that the leadership is denying Pilane’s interest in the constituency, saying the same denials were made when reports emerged that Pilane was eyeing the party presidency.