Masimolole takes IEC to court
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Masimolole petitions court to nullify Kgoroba’s win
High Court Judge Nthomiwa is expected to decide whether to proceed with a petition in which the former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and Mogoditshane Member of Parliament Patrick Masimolole is suing the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for losing the October 2014 General Elections.
In a closely contested election, Masimolole lost the constituency to Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)’s Sedirwa Kgoroba. Kgoroba garnered 4 180 while Macdonald Rakgare of the Botswana Congress Party came second with 3 846, and Masimolole was last with 3 787.
Ironically, it is Masimolole who is seeking the court to declare that the election process at the Mogoditshane constituency was unfair, improper, irregular and liable to be set aside as a nullity.
According to the court papers passed to this publication, the former legislator who is represented by Sadique Kebonang Attorneys, wants the court to declare that Kgoroba’s victory was due to lack of proper and due diligence on the part of the officials of IEC therefore making the elections unfair.
Masimolole also stated that should the court find the elections to have been marred with irregularities – in the affirmative – then it (court) should declare that Kgoroba was not duly elected. “The petition also seeks that the court certifies its determination to the Secretary of IEC Gabriel Seeletso who shall thereupon declare that Kgoroba was not duly elected.”
Meanwhile, the seconder to Kgoroba in the election, Rakgare, refused to be party to the petition. In fact the court papers reflect that he has refused to sign the letters or least meet with the petitioner.
Masimolole further states that, “alternatively, if the court determines that Kgoroba was not duly elected and that no other person was or is entitled to be declared duly elected, the court must declare the seat to be vacant and certify its determination to the President of the Republic of Botswana Lt. Gen. Ian Khama that a vacancy has occurred and the cause of such vacancy.”
According to Masimolole, alternatively, in the event it is determined that there was compliance with section 70 (1) of the Electoral Act, then he would ask for an order declaring that the counting process of the ballot papers at the Mogoditshane constituency was improper and irregular.
The order would direct and compel the IEC to count the election ballots of the constituency afresh within 30 days of issuance of such court order.
The former BDP legislator further complained in the court papers that, the first irregularity is in clear contravention of section 70 (1) of the Electoral Act Cap 02: 07. He asserted that after the ballot boxes arrived at Mogoditshane Senior Secondary School, which was the counting station, the returning officer, contrary to all expectations and due process did not verify ballot paper accounts of each polling station or any at all.
“This did not happen at Mogoditshane constituency elections. Upon arrival of the ballot boxes at the counting, agents were not allowed to verify the votes as required and mandated by section 70 (1) of the Electoral Act [ Cap 02: 09]. Accordingly there was non compliance with the mandatory requirements of the Act and the consequent results are a nullity,” he protested.
Another irregularity, he submitted, was that when the ballot boxes were emptied, the returning officer did not inform the counting agents and all other attendants at the polling station of each of the ballot boxes as they were being emptied as is the standard practice.
“The ballot boxes were just emptied haphazardly, some ballot boxes came to the counting station empty,” he asserted.
In addition and more critically, the former MP emphasised that, “the returning officer failed to verify and/or reconcile the results obtained from the charts by counting the actual ballot papers”.
Masimolole also maintained that the the failure to reconcile the results of the charts and the actual ballot papers was a grave irregularity that led to incorrect results in the constituency. He further averred that the practise being unfair led to unfair results.
The matter is expected to be heared on 20 March.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”