‘Reikeletseng eyes Francistown South’
FRANCISTOWN: Former Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng, has allegedly expressed interest to represent the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the 2024 General Election for Francistown South constituency. The constituency is currently held by Wynter Mmolotsi of the Alliance for Progressives (AP).
However, Reikeletseng’s alleged interest is not a shoo-in. Reikeletseng will first have to slug it out with a host of BDP cadres in its primary elections dubbed ‘Bulela Ditswe’ in the vernacular.
A reliable source told Mmegi that Reikeletseng is the BDP’s preferred candidate.
The source said: “Reikeletseng is the party’s preferred candidate because of his credentials. The party sees him as somebody who can match Mmolotsi pound for pound. The BDP leadership is very serious about recapturing the constituency because it used to belong to the party before Mmolotsi defected to the opposition hence it prefers Reikeletseng over other BDP cadres. Reikeletseng also has an added advantage because he grew up in the constituency. His parents are still living in the constituency.”
The source added: “It is not surprising that Reikeletseng is always in Francistown almost every weekend. He wants to ingratiate himself to the voters and so far the response he is receiving from the constituents is positive.”
Asked to comment about the allegations, Reikeletseng briefly said: “As of now I have not thought about representing the BDP in the 2024 General Elections. I will cross that bridge after the BDP opens bids for expression of interest for primary elections. Right now I am very busy with other things in life.”
The AP won Francistown South in the 2019 General Elections by 3,454 votes followed by Modiri Lucas of the BDP and Tiroeaone Ntsima of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) with 2,878 and 2,783 respectively.
It is not much of a stretch to say that with the major opposition the UDC and its affiliate the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) currently in political disarray because of governance issues, the BDP stands a very good chance of exploiting the situation to its advantage.
The Francistown region chairperson Baemedi Medupi said it will be ill advised for the BDP to support some candidates over others in its internal elections.
“The BDP will hold primary elections, which will give all its supporters in good standing who want to contest council and parliamentary seats an equal opportunity. So it is not true that the BDP is clandestinely supporting Reikeletseng over other candidates who also harbour intentions of representing it in 2024,” said Medupi.
In 2017, some BDP activists in Francistown South wanted Reikeletseng to represent them in the elections but he would later chicken out.
Reikeletseng had said in a previous interview: “At the moment, I do not think I am the right person to represent the people of Francistown South. I think for the sake of the party, we must field someone who will represent them well. I should not just take a position for the sake of power. I do not rule out the possibility of representing the people of Francistown South in the future. It is an ideal I wish to undertake one day but for now I do not want to divide my attention between sports, business and politics.”