Serame, Dikoloti draw battle lines post constituencies merger
● Ethnic allegiance a major card in the battle of ministers ● The new constituency needs tender care – region chairperson
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GOODHOPE: Following the merger of the Goodhope-Mabule and the Mmathethe-Molapowabojang constituencies, Finance minister, Peggy Serame has an uphill battle to defeat Edwin Dikoloti, the incumbent Mmathethe-Molapowabojang legislator for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primaries set for May, 2024.
While initially Serame was expected to take over the Goodhope-Mabule constituency from incumbent Eric Molale, who is retiring from politics, the delimitation exercise merged the constituencies and pitted minister against minister.
Whereas the Finance Minister seemed to be favoured by the BDP leadership in the new constituency, the ground still looks tilted in favour of her counterpart who is the current Minister of Health, Dikoloti.
During the weekend mega rally in Goodhope, where both ministers were present, interviews with ordinary members of the party in the constituency seem to reveal a lot in the constituency.
About 70% of Dikoloti’s constituency has merged with some parts of what is known as Goodhope-Mabule, so indication is that he still has more ground.
Serame’s campaign team told Mmegi in confidence that they are failing to penetrate villages that fall under Bangwaketse territories, which are Dikoloti’s stronghold.
Ethnic allegiance seems to be a major card in this battle of the giants, as Serame is more favoured by her own people in the Barolong villages.
“Serame has a strong campaign team in Borolong led by some councillors in Goodhope and some of Barolong areas.
“Apart from her being a woman, some people believe that if they have an MP from their areas, it would be easy for developments to come to their areas.
Of course, it is still difficult to penetrate the Dikoloti areas but we do have supporters there hence we are able to do some of the activities in some of those areas but there are not much as compared to the ones in Borolong areas,” a member from Serame’s team said.
Furthermore, the member revealed that Serame cannot be ruled out as some of the things which make her not to be visible include being the member of the party central committee (CC).
The member of the team said the fact that campaigns are not yet opened to BDP members is also not helping the situation.
The member revealed that Serame is slowly being felt as some people whom she supported for the regional committee managed to win.
Another resident of the area who came to witness the weekend mega rally, Segametsi Kewagamang said: “This battle is not going to be easy because both candidates stand a chance to win the primaries. Dikoloti has an advantage because he knows the political game very well.
Serame is new in this game but as a woman and again being a Minister of Finance, she has an additional advantage. As things stand, I feel that Dikoloti still leads the race because he can easily campaign freely in his area as compared to Serame because he is still an MP in the area.
Therefore, all areas which are still in his new constituency fall under him except Goodhope-Mabule ones. This is a disadvantage for someone who does not have an area like Serame.”
Kewagamang further revealed that both contenders control party lower structures and that it could contribute a lot to dirty politics when campaigns for party primary elections begin.
Kewagamang also said what will contribute more to dirty politics in the area for Goodhope-Mmathethe is that some community leaders in the new constituency have aligned themselves with these two contenders.
“I believe community leaders must desist from taking part in campaigning for politicians, especially at a lower level.
The politicians will not trust them going forward and people are not happy since they contribute a lot in dividing them,” Keitsemang said.
Despite Serame and Dikoloti’s battle for the constituency, the chairperson of the southern region, Motsamai Kegakilwe revealed that all is well within the area, which is made up of Goodhope-Mmathethe and Lobatse.
“We haven’t detected any ailment in this region and we can assure you that the constituencies will still be retained by the BDP.
“We know that in the previous years, there was a mistake when the opposition snatched it but I am confident that in our history we have never had divisions,” Kegakilwe promised BDP president Mokgweetsi Masisi who was the main speaker at the rally.
He said the intention is to take whoever they choose in the primary elections to Parliament and Local Government.
He said the BDP members should tread carefully when dealing with the new constituency because it is made up of two constituencies which became one.
“We are one person so please help us as the leadership to unite,” he highlighted. Kegakilwe said they are grateful because roads are being built and there is finally access to water and electricity in some areas in the two constituencies.