UDC partner parties position themselves for Francistown East

For the past few months, the Alliance for Progressives (AP), the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and Botswana Peoples’ Party (BPP) have been hyper-active in the Francistown East constituency, each looking to own it on behalf of the coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

The significance of the constituency is that out of a total of three constituencies, it is the only one in Francistown under the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Francistown South and Francistown West are AP and BPP reserves in that order.

With each one of the opposition parties eager to convince the coalition officials that they are capable of delivering it to the collective, their activists have been holding political rallies and doing house-to-house campaigns week-in and week-out.

The three political parties are members of the UDC, alongside the Botswana National Front (BNF), which has not shown interest in the constituency.

Indications are that Francistown East is one of the constituencies which the negotiating teams have not been able to allocate to any party. The stalemate is due to the fact that each one of the parties insist they are the most qualified to contest on behalf of the other partners.

The situation is not helped by the fact that both partisan and personal interests are at play in a big way in the negotiations and allocation of wards and constituencies to the respective partners. The party that comes from the 2024 elections with the most councillors and Members of Parliament (MP) will not only enjoy the bragging rights, it will also have sufficient grounds to demand the highest number of slots for its activists as cabinet Ministers. The party may also demand to occupy the Office of the President. There are fears that the extent to which each one of the concerned parties is insisting that it is the right ‘manager’ of the constituency and its wards on behalf of the partners may make it difficult for the parties to support the one which will eventually prevail in the debate.

The BPP has been touting its deputy secretary general, Tiroeaone Ntsima, who lost to Wynter Mmolotsi in Francistown South in 2019, to contest the constituency should the party convince its partners that it is the best choice.

The AP has Theresa Mmolawa and Peter Ngoma to choose from via the primary election process should it be given responsibility to contest it on behalf of the collective. The BPF wants to field its vice president, Dr Thoko Muzila should the BPF convince the negotiators that it has what it takes to prevail over the ruling BDP in the elections next year.

Ntsima choses to be cagey when approached for comment.

“We have not been active in the constituency for a very long time. On the basis of what is happening in terms of regular political activities, it is clear that all the parties need it.

“The UDC must do everything possible to wrestle it from the BDP, which will be a significant turn of events considering the fact that the constituency has eluded the opposition for some time,” he said.

Spokesperson of the AP, Phenyo Butale was not available for comment as his phone rang unanswered.

“All the parties want the constituency probably because it is winnable. It is one of those which could help us tip the balance if we win it,” the spokesperson of the BPF, Lawrence Ookeditse, said.

He hopes that those who fail to get the ward do not sulk.

“As members of the collective, we should be realistic. For instance, in the case of Francistown East, nobody should sulk if they do not get it because, it is in the hands of the BDP and not those of any of the UDC parties.

“In any coalition arrangement such as the UDC, nobody gets everything they want. You win some and lose others,” Ookeditse noted.