Botswana National Front (BNF) president Duma Boko has warned that anyone who attempts to rig the upcoming elections will pay with their life.
He said this when addressing the BNF Annual Conference at Ledumang Senior Secondary School this afternoon. Boko, who is also the President of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) said they are not going to let some things which happened in the past elections to happen again.
“There are some things which happened in the last elections which will not happen again in the October polls this year,” he warned.
“In the upcoming elections, you will work alongside Madibelatlhopho to protect the vote. We can only do this by sacrificing our lives. Whoever attempts to rig or rigs the elections, that person will pay with their life.”
“We are saying this without any doubt. Whoever rigs elections in the upcoming polls will do so knowing fully they are sacrificing their lives. The upcoming elections must be conducted in a fair manner. That is all we want.”
The BNF and UDC President said to protect the vote against rigging, they are training more Madibelatlhopho agents ahead of the elections. He said the training of agents will be done throughout the country.
One of the things he said would not happen again is the involvement of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) in the conduct of elections. “The 2019 elections were conducted by the DIS,” he alleged.
“Because the electoral act stipulates that the names of presiding officers should be published in the Government Gazette. What happened is that on election day, impostors from the DIS, not those whose names were published in the government Gazette arrived to conduct elections.”
He said this will not happen again. “All presiding officers will come to the polling stations with their Omang (National Identity) cards. You will have to bring copies of the Government Gazette where their names are published. Before elections start, we will cross check whether the presiding officer is the one whose name appears in the Government Gazette.”
On another matter, Boko said the only voters’ roll which will be used during the upcoming elections will be a certified one. He alleged that what happened in the last elections where voters’ rolls which came with party election overseers were not allowed in the polling stations and different ones were issued will not happen again.
