Sunday Standard has it in good authority that Team Malesu will not be joining the elections appeals fray.
This past Friday afternoon, Team Malesu candidates Gabriel Ngele and Solomon Ramochotlhwane received invitations from the Electoral Appeals Board to show if they will be interested in joining elections appeal. Ngele and Ramochotlhwane were first and second vice president candidates respectively in the Botswana Football Association (BFA) elections under the Team Malesu ticket.
The results of the two positions have since been appealed by fellow candidates Mokaneng Bontshetse and Senki Sesinyi of Team Sebego. Speaking in an interview, Team Malesu spokesperson Kabelo Brown said the team will not be joining the fray but will be watching how it all pens out.
Brown says as a team, they have heard and accepted the decision of the electorates and thus have at no given time expressed any grievances about the elections.
“The only thing we can be disappointed with is the fact that despite promises made by delegates, none cast a vote for Ookeditse Malesu. We have however accepted the results and we move on,” he said.
Another problem which hinders their participation in the election appeals, he said, is the little time they have been given to respond or show interest.
“We only received the letter of invitation to show if we are interested very late on Friday afternoon and we were told we should have submitted an hour before 1000hrs on Monday morning,” he explained.
He said this would not have given the team enough time to compile necessary documents to present before the committee even if they had such interest.
Brown however went on to state that they however will sit down to make decisions on what they should do depending on prevailing circumstances at the given time.
The same sentiments were shared by the two candidates invited, being Ngele and Ramochotlhwane. Speaking in an interview, both said they will be going to the hearings as interested observers but not as participants.
“First of all, we have not been given enough time to respond to the letter accordingly as it was only given to us on Friday afternoon,” Ngele explained. “We would therefore not have enough time to respond an hour before 1000hrs as requested if we were interested,” he said.
He said from what he sees, the purpose of the appeals is already defeated as the very same person who is being complained about is the signatory of the letter.
For his part, Ramochotlhwane said he believes the appeals are an exercise in futility and does not expect anything to come from them.
He however reiterated the Team Malesu stance that they will be attending the hearings and watching how they turn out.
On whether their team would join the election re-run if the appellants are successful, Team Malesu said the decision will be taken when the time is right.
