Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
6 November 2008
Seven days after the Serowe regional committee of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) made rulings in two pending Bulela Ditswe appeals, the contestants say they are yet to receive the outcome of those hearings.
Secretary general for the region, Prince Moitoi, also Minister Pelonomi Venson's husband, confirmed that his committee completed hearings last week Wednesday. He confirmed that the appeals by the Serowe South and Serowe North parliamentary candidates, Tebelelo Seretse and Kgotla Autlwetse, were heard last week.
The two lost to Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Dikgakgamatso Ramadeluka Seretse respectively in the BDP primary elections held end of August.
While Moitoi refused to disclose the outcome of Tebelelo's hearing to avert a conflict of interest, he however said that in the other case, Kgotla Autlwetse and three council candidates at the Topisi ward all lost their appeals.
Moitoi said the appellants had failed to account for a significant number of voters who belonged to the Serowe North West constituency. Moitoi said they requested evidence from the contestants who failed to provide the information.
Moitoi also added that the party headquarters did not have records of voters who transferred from Serowe North West.
Autlwetse said he is surprised that it is only now that people are beginning to treat the Topisi voters "as if they are a new phenomenon. These voters have been taking part in BDP elections from way back. In November 2007, they were on the voters roll for the constituency. They can be traced back to the time of former MP Collin Blackbeard. They have been voting in Patwe. Now they have been removed from the voters' roll".
Autlwetse argues that if there was fairness in the whole thing, the committee should have reviewed the voters as well. "But all of a sudden the voters have been removed," he said.
Autlwetse said he was surprised that the ruling is out, adding that by yesterday, he was yet to receive the results of his appeal. "Nobody has been called for evidence," he said.
One of the losing candidates in the Topisi council, Artie Boitshwarelo said that he knows nothing. He added that since he appealed the results the regional committee has never written letters to him.
Boitshwarelo said his appeal was based on the fact that the elections were rigged. "Some people voted many times in the Bulela Ditswe in Topisi. This area is made up of Moreomabele, Lechana and Topisi villages".
"From the last voters' roll one person in our council area was registered in three villages. Vehicles ferried the voters from one polling station to another at Lechana, Moreomabele and Topisi. I have a copy of the voters roll containing this anomaly. I am keeping it for evidence. I have voters who can testify in this matter. They were ready to give evidence that they were made to vote three times in the just ended primary elections. But we were not invited," Boitshwarelo continued.
Another council candidate in Topisi, Thapelo Dithebe, also said he was shocked to learn that he failed to back up his appeal with facts. "In the first place, I was not supposed to hear about the results through a media worker. The region has not called me to hear what I am protesting about".
"I stated the reasons for my protests in the letter of appeal that I had written, but I also expected to be invited for oral interviews, and also to be given the chance to call my witnesses. I am aware that initially they passed this case on to the central committee without inviting us. When the case was returned from the Central Committee we heard from the press only, no one else cared to inform us," Dithebe said.
Meanwhile, efforts to contact the regional chairperson in Serowe, Motseothata Bafana were unsuccessful.
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