22 Jan 2017

The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has re-claimed Tsabong North ward with a margin of 52 after it lost it to the ruling party in the 2014 general elections.

This comes after the demise of the Botswana Democratic Party councillor late last year due to a short illness.

The UDC, represented by Mr Mock Ntau, was voted by 671 people while the BDP, represented by Mr Edward Coetzee  was voted by 619 with 15 spoilt votes and two rejected.

Speaking after the elections both candidates accepted the results as free and fair, thus giving UDC the green light to occupy the council seat.

 The UDC, which  held the constituency for sometime is making a return to the council barely two years after the general elections having surrendered it in 2014.

The winner, Mr Ntau expressed happiness that they have managed to re-claim the ward, which now can be declared their strong hold.

He attributed their loss of 2014 to not working hard prior to the elections, saying that this time around they reached out to the masses and even invaded the BDP stronghold in the ward.

Mr Ntau has won the ward for three consecutive terms in the past and now this will be his fourth stint under the same ward.

He revealed that he was impressed by the number of people who came out to vote because traditionally people do not show commitment to the bye-elections like they do the general ones.

Mr Edward Coetzee thanked his voters and pointed out that he was also impressed by the number of people who voted for him because generally voters do not normally give it their all when it comes to bye-elections.

The branch chairperson for BDP, Mr Sam Brooks said they lost in Seetelo ward, which had a high number of voters compared to other four wards.

He pointed out that they did all they could to win the ward, but unfortunately voters decided otherwise and now his team is focusing its energies on the upcoming 2019 general elections.

Mr Moeti Mhaswa of UDC pointed out that his camp was happy with the support that it got from other parties, particularly the BCP, which did not field any candidate, adding that the UDC candidate was stronger.

He pointed out that the current system of ballot papers is fair and transparent because everyone can see for themselves, unlike the envisioned electronic voting machine.

The  area principal elections officer, Mr Richard Senthumoleng also echoed the sentiments with the candidates that he was also impressed with the turn out by voters, which he said stood at almost 80 per cent.

He attributed this to the hard work both camps put into their campaign in the build up to the elections, saying they really mobilised the masses, adding that the masses are slowly getting educated, seeing that the number of spoilt votes have been reduce significantly. BOPA