Yes I am laughing. I mean really, what was he thinking? It’s not funny that he inconvenienced many people with a re-run but it is laughable how Minister of Defence, Justice and Security and current Member of Parliament for Serowe North-East, Dikgakgamatso Ndelu Ramadeluka Seretse went all out to cartoon himself the way he did. I submit, if Seretse isn’t ashamed at the outcome from this past weekend’s BDP primary election re-run in his constituency then nothing in this world will ever shame him. I would really be ashamed if I were him. Nka swaba tota. If he is not, then it would mean Seretse has had a surgery of some sort to remove his embarrassment nerves. Let us be reminded that the re-run happened at the behest and insistence of Seretse. He invited the humiliation on himself. Shame!
Seretse initially requested for the re-run but when the BDP’s electoral board seemed to suggest he is a big joke to seek a re-run of the whole constituency, he raked through the BDP statutes to find a clause that turned his request into an order. He managed to find it and even shocked the BDP’s legal eagle, Parks Tafa, who clearly never imagined such a stupid clause existed in the BDP electoral regulations. Honestly, I still fail to understand how the BDP came up with such a silly clause where a re-run can be ordered for the whole constituency even where the complaint or irregularity is observed in just one ward. It doesn’t make sense that an irregularity in a single ward can cause so much inconvenience to the rest of other wards that held peaceful elections. You see, the case of Seretse’s protest attracted so much public interest and attention for so many reasons. For some people, it was a case of “he is at it again” because this was not the first time Seretse pulled this one on Kgotla Autlwetse. Autlwetse beat Seretse back in 2003 and Seretse cried foul. The BDP called for a re-run and Seretse won the second round. It is worth mentioning that when Seretse protested the 2003 primary election results, the other contestants never took part in the re-run but instead joined forces with him and that was how Seretse eventually won against Autlwetse. They had ganged against him but he took the defeat with such humility, hard as it clearly was to swallow. In the 2008 primary elections, Seretse won but Autlwetse cried foul too.
Instead of being granted his wish for a re-run as previously extended to Seretse, the BDP central committee threw out his appeal and endorsed Seretse’s win. Never one to give up and sulk in despair, it appears Autlwetse continued with his ground work in the constituency. While Seretse was busy enjoying whatever his P46 000 worth refrigerator dispensed to him in the comfort of his government sponsored home in Gaborone, Autlwetse kept the fire burning in Serowe. Seretse spent much of his time cruising around Gaborone streets on his government sponsored black BMW while Autlwetse on the other hand seems to have been busy mingling with the electorates in Serowe. Seretse devoted much of his time flying between Gaborone and Lagos where he became a regular at TB Joshua’s church. It now appears while Seretse was absent, busy praying and socializing with his ‘brother from another mother’ in Nigeria, Autlwetse was busy comforting the people of Serowe North. For some, including myself, we had hoped Seretse would accept the initial defeat in an effort to show his selflessness and to avoid a situation whereby he was now being viewed by the public as political vulture who never believes that the voice of the people is supreme. We expected this from Seretse because all along he had been portraying himself as a man of peace who abides by the teachings of Jesus. It is without doubt that what Seretse did in calling for re-run when it was clear from the onset that the people no longer wanted him cannot be said to be anywhere near the Biblical wisdom.
The 2013 primary elections came and the people of Serowe spoke in one voice. The message was clear that the people no longer fancied Seretse as their representative. Worse for Seretse, the second round brought more humiliation for him as the margins increased. He couldn’t believe it. As to why Seretse seemed to believe it can’t be true that the people of Serowe North no longer wanted him still remains a mystery to me. The man just couldn’t believe it. At times I wonder if his confidence came from his ties Nigeria’s TB Joshua whom we are made to believe he has direct contact with God or it was just Seretse believing his royal blood was enough to compel Bangwato to continue to vote for him even when he had abandoned them.
Whatever reasons he had to believe he was irreplaceable, Seretse clearly fooled himself. The embarrassment of being voted for by a meager 1 478 while Autlwetse got 4 084 will haunt Seretse for a long time to come. There were some instances where Seretse got about 5 votes in a ward and this was a clear indication of how people must have wanted to send a clear message to Seretse that he had lost favour with them. I continue to laugh at Seretse because he invited this humiliation on himself. The electorates taught him a lesson which other politicians need to learn too: no one is irreplaceable.
