‘It is not over yet!’ 

Madibelatlhopho warn IEC, again The Chairman of Madibelatlhopho, Michael Keakopa has come out with guns blazing, accusing the Secretary of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) – Jefferson Siamisang of being malicious, after the latter told a Lobatse Council meeting that the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) agents have no official role to play in the upcoming elections. 

Siamisang had declared that the self-styled election defender’s unit of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) commonly known as Madibelatlhopho will have no official role to play in the upcoming national plebiscite. He was addressing members of Lobatse Town Council on Wednesday, insisting that only legally approved officials will be allowed in the election process. 

“Siamisang, just like the ruling Botswana Democratic party (BDP) politicians do not seem to understand what Madibelatlhopho represents. The Electoral Act recognizes polling agents, election agents, election agent clerks, counting agents. All these, who are recignised by our election laws, are Madibelatlhopho. Although the Madibelatlhopho name does not appear in the Electoral Act, as they seem to expect, all those agents are what we collectively call our Madibelatlhopho,”Keakopa explained, adding that the agents have been very active during election registration and even party primary elections. 

He said the Electoral Act gives expression to the Constitution of Botswana as far as the conduct of elections is concerned, and therefore by extension the Constitution recognizes Madibelatlhopho agents. “I just wonder if Siamisang is being ignorant or is just malicious, by insinuating that he does not understand the role played by those agents I have enumerated who appear in the Electoral Act,” retorted Keakopa. 

Asked if they will drag IEC to court over refusal to avail a soft copy Voters roll after numerous requests, Keakopa said they are currently compiling information about behind the scenes maneuvers by the election management body and will reveal to the public at the right time. 

“It may be too late to go that route now since we are only a few weeks from the general elections. We will use other alternative means to expose the rot at IEC,”Keakopa declared. 

Electoral cohort 

Answering a question about Madibelatlhopho circuitously, Siamisang said that the topmost election agent will be the Returning Officer(RO) who is either the District Commissioner or the Town Clerk. He said the RO will be followed in precedence by the polling district or ward RO’s and that each of these officials will have assistants. “All of these officials will have their assistant Returning Officers and at the constituency level there will be 7 to 8 assistants while ward levels will have 4 to 5 assistants,” he said. Moreover, he noted that among the electoral cohort, two police officers will be deployed to oversee the safety and security of the electoral process and that political parties will have polling agents and counting agents while candidates and their spouses will also have access into the counting hall. 

Furthermore, he declared that the RO will have a discretion to invite candidates to bring their own people such as party elders into the realm, while other observer parties like local and international media as well as election monitors such as the Commonwealth and African Union will be allowed electoral access. “The people I have mentioned are legally appointed people and anyone that I’ve not mentioned has no right to be around and must not usurp any authority they do not have legally,” said Siamisang, urging councilors to spread conciliatory messages because political party supporters listen more to their leaders. 

“Meanwhile, as for voters, they will vote and go home. In other countries elections bring chaos and lives are lost even before the election starts. But we can also engender peace for ourselves because peace and stability are constructed by citizens through respecting such things as the electoral process,” Siamisang noted, confirming that the 2024 general election will be held in October as per tradition following the dissolution of Parliament at the conclusion of its five-year term. 

“To that end, we count 20 days after the dissolution of Parliament and the first Saturday will be the nomination day of Presidential candidates who will present themselves before the Chief Justice with 1000 nominators including the proposer and seconder,” he said. 

Additionally, between 5 and 10 days afterwards, parliamentary and council candidates will be nominated in their constituencies and wards, respectively, by the returning officer. Parliamentary candidates will be nominated by 9 supporters who must be in the voters roll. 

Siamisang further noted that after nominations, that is when the IEC will be in the right position to design and procure ballot papers because they will be knowing all the party colours, voting symbols and the final candidate list and their constituency or ward. 

“The elections have to be held in 60 days and that is 25 to 26 days after nomination. It follows logically that elections will be held in October and as such elections will be culmination and an important day in our job,” said Siamisang clearing the air on the prevailing election day suspense. 

Meanwhile, Siamisang revealed that IEC has registered 1 038 000 voters, breaching the 1 million registration mark for the first time in the country’s electoral history. The commission had set itself a 1.3 million target but managed to reach 80% of it. 

He also encouraged voters who are eligible to transfer their votes to step forward as this dispensation will come to an end a day before the dissolution of parliament noting that such cohort includes soldiers who were deployed in Mozambique as well as individuals and students who were living abroad. 

Another cohort allowed to transfer is of voters who were plunged into confusion by the newly demarcated constituencies. “Even so, this is a serious case and a voter has to come forward and plead their case. This is because candidates want to transfer peoples votes to shore up their numbers but this is serious because officials will take a vehicle to personally assess the demarcation situation on the ground before assisting the voter,” he noted.