Ryder Gabathuse
20 February 2008
Palapye — After emphatically losing the second round of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections in Palapye last Saturday, Health Minister, Professor Sheila Tlou now knows how she lost the plot.
Tlou went into the primaries a complete novice in so far as canvassing for support in a political environment is concerned. She relied upon her campaign team to do all the work for her.
Instead of exploiting issues that could bring them closer to the electorate, they chose the negative approach which amounted to 'mudslinging'. They dwelt on the personal being of the candidates rather than reflecting on what their candidate would do if elected to parliament.
It was really not helpful for a lobby group of the BDP to mock fellow party members of running a 'poor' campaign that was characterised by meagre financial resources.
This was said so loudly for the other group to hear. Unfortunately for them, these nasty things were said in the presence of the voters who were expected to determine the fate of Tlou and Goya.
It is possible that Goya sailed through mainly as a result of the protest vote. Instead of concentrating on the assignment at hand, the leaders of this group also decided to show their closeness and affection ignoring their task.
Officially, councillor Ramogapi blames what he calls the 'penetration' by the opposition BCP youths to have messed up their plans."Basically, it is the infiltration by the BCP cadres which has messed up the pro-Tlou group," he concedes. The whole cheating he says, was unstoppable as a lot of youths had the BDP cards knowingly that they did not belong to the BDP.
On the other hand, Tsholetsa House is blamed for playing a negative role with some of Tlou's people reportedly missing from the voters' rolls. Even some membership cards were reportedly missing and this has done a lot of damage to the Tlou group, it is alleged.
There was also a worry that "voter trafficking with people ferried from outside Palapye like Radisele". Another concern is that previously at Khurumela very few people participated in the primaries and for the re-run, the number has since doubled raising fears that even 'outsiders' could have voted.
Ramogapi is also worried by what he calls 'dirty politics' as there were reports that the Bazezuru community was warned, "you should never allow a woman to lead you as that is against your beliefs and traditions." Tlou was also accused of having failed to effectively run her ministry as the country is currently experiencing shortage of drugs and medicines.
The Goya group was apparently very humble in their approach with only two councilors, Meisie Ndubo and Tebogo Apei on this side.
They boasted of mostly the youth who were impressed by the bravery of one of them who was not intimidated by Tlou's status as a Minister and succeeded in the search for the party ticket.
In terms of the resources, Goya had committed all his fleet. His well-to do in-laws who have businesses in town and another motor dealer friend of his was very busy on his side and added a lot of value to his campaign.
Goya's team enjoyed a closer contact with the grassroots, as that is the background where Goya himself comes from. At their own peril, the Tlou camp could have undermined the value of the common people and set their eyes on the obvious names. The strength of every election lies in hoi polloi.
Allegations of cheating aside, from what we witnessed in Palapye during the campaign stages, more people who were registering at Tsholetsa were associated with the Tlou camp than the Goya side. Old man councillor Nsunge made incessant trips to Tsholetsa Hall for the purposes of registration than any other BDP operative. You can only wonder where all the numbers that he had amassed had gone.
The Goya group did not intimidate possible members to its side by any means. He attracted the youth mainly because he could employ youth user-friendly language and most importantly, his campaign manager was a youthful woman, Motlalepula Molapise who also mastered the youths needs. Goya could also not avoid parading his 'riches' but he was very tactical and avoided hurting the feelings of the many have-nots he appealed to.
Speaking to Mmegi about what aided him to appeal to the people post primaries re-run, Goya said: "We had changed our campaign strategies from our December approach and it was more enhanced now. Instead of sending separate teams to the people, we moved as a single team to all the wards and this worked."
One of the things that made Goya appealing was that "we did not mock people because of their social status." Goya's team was tabling all the attainable things and avoided promising the impossible.
"On the eve of the re-run, we took our campaigns to the many institutions in town. We also campaigned openly in the main malls, bus rank and this worked for us," he said. He concedes that the widening of his margin could be a result of the party's decision to delay in announcing the fate of Tlou's protest. "They told us all sorts of things and it was apparent that they were sympathetic to our ordeal." Above all considerations, he was happy that being a youth has worked wonders for him.
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