FRANCISTOWN: While the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is yet to announce the date for the Mapoka-Nlapkhwane ward by-election, parties are not leaving anything to chance and crisscrossing the ward canvassing for votes. The by-election was occasioned by the death of BDP councillor Farayi Bonyongo who was also the chairperson of the North East District Council (NEDC). During the 2019 General Election, Bonyongo won the seat via 692 votes followed by the UDC, an independent candidate and BPF with 356, 321 and 176 votes respectively.

The BDP says it has now received five names from its cadres who are vying for the vacant ward. The party’s branch secretary of Tati West constituency, Jenamiso Jerry confirmed on Wednesday.

In an interview with Mmegi, Jerry said even though the BDP has been preaching the consensus candidate selection model in its primaries in some parts of the country, the model was not on the table in Mapoka-Nlapkhwane.

He explained that the model was not offered for discussion primarily because it has the potential of alienating other candidates who also want to try their luck.

“As a democratic party, we are going to give our supporters the opportunity to choose whoever they want to represent them through the process of a primary election looking at the dynamics on the ground. The BDP will be holding its primary elections in August and taking that into consideration, it was going to be difficult to convince other hopefuls to stand aside for one person because they may also be harbouring intentions of contesting in our primary elections in August,” said Jerry.

However, the BDP man was cagey with releasing the names of the BDP’s aspiring candidates for the by-election because they have been sent to Tsholetsa House for vetting. “I will publicly release the names after the party has vetted them,” Jerry noted.

While that may be the case, Paulos Nkoni, Thomas Chabalala, Changu Molapise, Salani Masalila and Tirelo Mukokomani are some of the BDP activists who are reportedly in the running to replace Bonyongo.

Recently, the chairperson of the BDP in Tati West, Falani Masalila said they were optimistic of retaining the ward.

“We obviously want to win it again but in by-elections anything can happen. We are doing house-to-house campaigns to lure voters to our side. People normally don’t vote in large numbers during by-elections as compared to the general election. A lot of factors contribute to a party not winning a by-election like the relocation of some voters who then become difficult to trace. Henceforth, we are not leaving anything to chance,” said Masalila.

The BDP has been recently losing by-elections to the UDC, a coalition of the BNF, BCP, BPF and BPP.

The marriage of convenience between the UDC and BCP is currently on the rocks over differences of good governance, constitutionalism and democracy issues.

This will be another annus horribilis (Latin for horrible) year for the UDC and BCP because they will each field a candidate to contest in the Mapoka-Nlapkhwane by-election. The BCP has since released a statement saying its stay in the UDC will be determined by its conference in July. The status quo is contrary to the expectations of some of their supporters who want 2023 and years ahead to be annus mirabilis (Latin for miraculous or wonderful) for the warring parties.

The UDC and the BCP have contested against each other in the Moselewapula and Bophirima by-elections in Francistown and Gaborone respectively amongst others. The UDC has, however, won all the above by-elections.

The UDC candidate who will be contesting the Mapoka-Nlapkhwane by-election, Nabulani Lenyatso, told Mmegi that preparations for the poll are going very well.

Lenyatso, who was chosen as a compromise candidate from a pool of four candidates said: “We are currently moving door-to-door canvassing for votes. The response we are getting on the ground is so far positive.”

When asked if he is not concerned that the ongoing political brawl between the UDC and the BCP has the potential of diminishing his electoral prospects, Lenyatso responded: “I don’t think that the fight between the UDC and BCP will have any effect on how the UDC will perform in the by-election. We have very high chances of wresting the ward from the BDP. Voters in Botswana want change and they know for a fact that only a united opposition led by the UDC will topple the BDP from power. The voters of Mapoka-Nlapkhwane are going to punish the BCP dearly for betraying the struggle.” On the other hand, the BCP is also positive that it will cause one of the major upsets in the by-election.

“Our preparations are going very well even though we don’t have a candidate now. We are doing house-to-house campaigns and the response we are receiving is very encouraging. It looks like only two council hopefuls are eyeing the ward. This is notwithstanding what may happen on Friday when those interested in contesting in the party’s primaries submit their names following the release of the election writ by the party’ s elections director,” said the chairperson of the BCP in Tati West, Leonard Mutheto. Mutheto will not, however, readily share the names of aspiring BCP candidates saying that he will do so after March 24.

However, one Morris Gole is reportedly one of the people who have submitted a name to compete for the BCP primaries.