By Arnold Letsholo
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has identified a candidate to challenge Alliance for Progressives candidate and incumbent Gabane/ Mankgodi constituency legislator in the upcoming 2019 General Elections.
Moreetsi Gomang who was Gabane/ Mankgodi constituency’s office Administrator until a week ago will battle it out with his former boss Major General Pius Mokgware in the 2019 general elections.
In an interview, Gomang said his decision to stand for elections was motivated by fruitless persuasions he tried with Mokgware that he should defect from AP to UDC. He said he had had several meetings with him on the matter but his efforts bore no fruit.
“Some two weeks back I had a two-hours meeting with my former boss, trying to talk sense into him, that Batswana should be liberated from the BDP oppression. I also persuaded him to convince his party’s fellow executive committee members to consider returning to the UDC or devising means of working together towards winning forthcoming elections,” he said.
According to Gomang, “My elder (Mokgware) stood his ground that the UDC values currently differ a lot from those of the AP. That was when I tendered by resignation letter, which he signed.”
He said he has met with several youth groups in the wards, who have told him that he took too long to arrive at a decision to stand.
He said they are aware that vote split can work against them as UDC but he was adamant that victory is certain.
“People want to vote UDC and combination of BNF and BCP can turn things around,” he said.
But Mokgware views it differently.”Batswana want delivery of services and promises. Not UDC. Voters split might occur but those who won’t vote for me will still not even if I stand using UDC ticket. UD is no longer a viable project,” he said.
Mokgware noted that “UDC is entangled in conflicts and court cases. It might happen that at elections time, or when elections approach, the court rules that UDC should not contest some constituencies. Many electorates have told me not to join UDC because there is unrest there.”
He added that “I have already done house to house campaigns and I have been cautioned about this. Moreover, next elections might come earlier than October, given the unsteady atmosphere within the ruling BDP. Masisi might decide to dissolve parliament earlier and call writ for elections to safeguard his next reigning term.”
