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Will It Be Venson-Moitoi or Seretse? |
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 BY AUBREY LUTE
Two ‘powerful’ Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) women go neck to neck at the weekend in the party primary elections to be staged in the Serowe South constituency. Tebelelo Seretse and Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi are both confident of victory in the coming election.
Seretse has worked her way up the BDP ladder of power becoming a member of the party’s central committee by virtue of being the chairperson of the party Women’s Wing. Seretse managed to take control of the women’s wing as her lobby group won almost all positions in the last elections and she was unopposed.
Seretse, a former cabinet minister was also part of the BDP committee that was involved in the BDP drafting of the constitutional amendments as proposed by various regions. This position is said to have allowed her to interact more with people in the constituency that she is vying for.
She is understood to have worked hard since 2004 after losing the 2003 primary election to Venson-Moitoi. According to BDP activists in the area, Seretse is a hard worker and she has an outside chance of winning the constituency. A lawyer by training and also a businesswoman, Seretse is seen by many as pro –Nkate-Merafhe faction which is assumed to be dominant at the moment. But factional allegiances are seen as distant determinants of the Saturday outcome.
But Seretse is not challenging “just another woman”, warns some BDP activists in Serowe. They point out that Venson-Moitoi was brought up and groomed by the BDP grassroots in the area and it will take a lot of effort to unseat her.
She recently consolidated her position in some of the doubtful wards by inviting President Lt Gen Ian Khama to hand out houses to the needy. Venson-Moitoi who is also the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology is said to have tapped into her opportunities well, “we see on television on a more frequent basis, it think this has helped her a lot,” said one activist.
Venson-Moitoi is known to be humble to the elders, the lot that usually takes part in processes such as elections. The Gazette has been informed that both women have made a mark in the constituency but incumbency and a ministerial position might work wonders for Venson-Motoi, while handwork and determination remain the key to Seretse salvaging something from the election.
The Serowe South population is said to be of the view that both women deserve a chance to lead but they have no choice, they will have to pick one. The two women were once accused of challenging gone another because they complained of low women representation in Parliament. However Seretse is of the view that the constituency belongs to her and so is Venson-Moitoi.
In another election in Serowe Minister of Justice, Defence and Security Brigadier Ramadeluka Seretse will have a lot of work in trying to ward off a serious challenge from the former Central District Council Chairman, Kgotla Autlwetse. The latter appears to be popular with the masses, and Ramadeluka will need something more than incumbency y and ministerial portfolio to push him out of his way.
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