POLITICAL BATTLE
BCP cadres fighting over Tatitown ward after primary election
Botswana Congress Party leadership in Francistown is hard at work trying to put out what threatens to escalate into an inferno. Here, the two candidates for Tatitown ward in Francistown, are feuding over the outcome of the recently-held
primary elections. Odirile Masebu and Beard Maja locked horns in the ward and Maja was ultimately declared the winner, but Masebu would have none of it. He instead challenged the integrity of the whole process hoping for the party leadership to nullify the outcome and call for a re-run.
Responding to The Midweek Sun enquiries, the complainant admitted that indeed there was an issue regarding the ward primary election held a couple of weeks ago. Contacted for comment, Odirile Masebu suggested that he is a victim of cheating without going into details. “I can only go as far as admitting that indeed there is an issue around the recently-held primary election but I am not mandated to comment further. You would need to talk to the constituency officials,” Maja told The Midweek Sun. For his part, chairman of the Francistown West constituency, where the contested ward is, Odirile Gavu, said that on the basis of their preliminary investigations, a re-run is highly likely. “A decision has not been reached because investigations are being concluded which will lead us to the way forward,” Gavu said.
Meanwhile, the BCP has yet to resolve a case involving Tiyapo Thapelo and Frank Lebala who are fighting over Marobela ward. Thapelo has taken the matter to court complaining that his appeal for a re-run was ignored as if Lebala has been accepted as the winner. Efforts to speak to Dr Mpho Pheko, the party spokesperson, were futile as her phone rang unanswered.