Onalenna Modikwa
10 November 2009
Councillor Lekang Mukokomani shocked the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) twice yesterday going against the grain to win the race for Selebi-Phikwe's mayor and choosing his deputy from the opposition ranks.
After the BDP caucus, Mukokomani was lined-up to be deputy mayor with his party colleague, Tebogo Matlhogonolo getting the main seat. With the BDP majority in the council, it was given that this line-up would prevail. But during elections, things took a different turn when a group of councillors nominated Mukokomani to contest the mayoral elections against Matlhogonolo.
He accepted the nomination and proceeded to trounce Matlhogonolo 8-6 in the elections.
To complicate matters, Mukokomani picked Botswana Congress Party (BCP) councillor Bathaedi Mponwane to be his deputy, to the chagrin of BDP colleagues. The new mayor surprised BDP councillors when he gave his casting vote to Mponwane, who had tied with nominated councillor Mmapula Phuduhudu in the elections for deputy mayor. Mukokomani is likely to face the wrath of his BDP colleagues who are already unhappy about the development.
The feeling inside the council was that opposition councillors might have voted for Mukokomani and deliberately appointed a ruling party councillor to conduct elections, automatically disqualifying him from voting.
After the elections a defiant Mukokomani explained that his decision to surprise the council with an opposition deputy mayor was good and he does not regret it. "All councillors are entitled to be voted. I had to take a decision and it was a good one," he said.
He explained that BDP councillors caucused and cemented the resolutions in which they had agreed to have Matlhogonolo as the mayor with him as the deputy. He said to their surprise there was another group of ruling party councillors who caucused against the resolutions. "My name came as a surprise for the mayoral position, but I just accepted the nominations and it is evident that other fellow councillors connived with external forces to defy the initial resolutions," he said.
He asserted that councillors cannot claim to be surprised by his decision to vote for an opposition councillor after they defied the caucus resolutions. "I am taking this forward with the party and it is up to the party to decide who is right between me and other councillors," he promised. He called on the BDP leadership to launch investigations on how the caucus was conducted.
A BCP councillor said that the new turn of events is a major breakthrough and a sign of change. "We have high hopes that we will now work well with the ruling party councillors and it shows we have the ability to lead the council," he said.
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