Marobela villagers demand answers
The sleepy village of Marobela in the Tutume District is still reeling in shock after last Friday’s report of Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) registration books that were stolen.
The villagers concerns stem from questions whether the whole affair was a real case of theft or just staged.
Mothusi April hails from Marobela village and news that his information after registering for the 2024 General Election has gone missing, has sent a chill down his spine. He challenged the capacity of the IEC to continue to be trusted with such a massive responsibility of registering Batswana for the national polls.
His greatest fear is how the IEC is really going to meet its target of registering 1.7 million to partake in this year’s general election as it has started the job on the wrong footing. “This is worrying. As you may know, there has been a contentious issue about the fairness of the conduct of processes of elections, some of these developments raise fears of the IEC’s bad faith in conducting the registration process,” April told Mmegi.
He fears the development reported last week Friday, could be the work of some people sponsored by some saboteurs of democracy.
“It’s not me alone who is concerned about this unfortunate development, we are many at Marobela. It’s shocking that the government has employed security companies to guard tents, chairs, tables and lose focus on the important registration books,” he lamented.
His suggestion was that before the problem spread across the country, the IEC should identify safe places like police stations and classrooms and store the registration books after hours.
“Why should people be carrying such important books around when data has not even been captured in the IEC system,” wondered the Marobela native.
His emphasis is that the IEC should attach premium on the registration books and treat them like national records. He was even tempted to embrace fears raised by the UDC when it took government to court seeking to be allowed to observe the registration process.
Another villager, Teedzani Machacha declared discontentedly: “I am not happy. I had taken a decision to register and in the interim ready myself to vote when time comes and now with all these developments, it raises fears that there will be disturbances.”
Machacha feared that there could be some political disturbances building up and if not dealt with at the earliest possible time, democracy might be culprit.
“Whilst we are waiting anxiously for explanations from the powers that be, our local leadership has been mum on the stolen registration books,” he noted.
Marobela councillor, Tabona Masole was this week worried that the IEC and the office of the District Commissioner, who are the custodians of national elections, have been too slow to update the villagers who are concerned about the incident.
“We are being kept in the dark by the authorities. As it stands, nobody has come forth to officially inform us about this incident. Your police, IEC, the DC’s office are just mum,” emphasised Masole.
Masole is a UDC councillor and his party had raised concerns about the process of registering voters for the elections.
“We have been vindicated because we always maintained that the IEC has no capacity to follow up on issues of this nature as they occur. Just yesterday, we heard from a public address system calling on villagers to return cards they have been issued with to come and re-register,” observed Masole.
In his view, his party, the UDC had a solution to problems of this nature. He made an appeal to the IEC to ensure they involve stakeholders widely when crisis of this nature hit an area rather than leaving people guessing.
Botswana National Front (BNF) secretary-general, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa told Mmegi that it is important for an electoral body to conduct transparent, free, fair and credible elections to usher in a legitimate government peacefully.
“Elections can either greatly advance or set back a country’s longterm democratic development.
The most fundamental principle defining credible elections is that they must reflect the free expression of the will of the people. To achieve this, elections should be transparent, inclusive, and trusted by voters and those elected.”
As the opposition outfit, “Our take is that the first problem is that the Botswana’s IEC is not independent , and it’s more like a department in the Office of the President . There is a problem of data accessibility and transparency.”
In his view, he considers the Marobela incident, a monumental crisis that has befallen the country with the so-called theft of voters’ registration books in Marobela which has seriously dented the security and credibility of the electoral processes.
“It vindicates us in our assertion that the IEC in its current state is a failed project controlled by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) and aided in its tracks by Court of Appeal as demonstrated recently in the court case by UDC,” Motshegwa told Mmegi.
The opposition BCP spokesperson, Mpho Pheko this week adopted the position of the party Nkange parliamentary candidate Motlhaleemang Moalosi.
“The secrecy surrounding the thefts of election registration records has left us deeply troubled. It is imperative that the IEC provides transparency and clarity to the nation by disclosing the specific date ranges affected by the thefts, so that individuals who may have been impacted are able to come forward and re-register,” Moalosi’s letter reads in part.
He added: “This information is crucial for safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process and ensuring that all eligible voters are given the opportunity to participate in the upcoming elections.”
BDP spokesperson, Kagelelo Kentse told Mmegi yesterday that after appreciating a briefing from the IEC spokesperson, they consider the incident to be just an unfortunate development.
“We believe that the IEC will handle the matter very well. We heard that from the books stolen about 52 people had already registered and we believe the matter will be handled well to close the unfortunate gap,” added Kentse.