16 Aug 2015

The principal elections officer for Letlhakeng Sub-district, Mr Joseph Diswai says the church is vital for democracy, especially regarding the aspect of community outreach.

Speaking at a one-day workshop to engage faith-based organisations on the reviewing of polling stations, Mr Diswai said it was essential to engage the church for the institution’s input in matters affecting the electoral process.

He said some voters still lacked basic knowledge on the importance of voting; therefore it was upon churches to help the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to educate them.

“The church cannot be entirely divorced from politics or democracy because the institution has been participating in this matter for many years since the days of missionaries.

Churches have also had a hand in ensuring human rights such as the right to worship, freedom of speech and others,” he said. The IEC executive said it was also important to engage churches in reviewing the past elections and preparing for the next as the IEC often uses church premises as polling stations.

“In the past churches have been complaining that during elections, church premises are flooded with people drinking or smoking freely. These are the issues in which we need your guidance on how to tackle them ahead of the next elections,” he said.

Mr Diswai also informed the gathering that the IEC was planning to gradually do away with using tents as polling stations because they normally pose challenges such as water and toilet limitations.

Participants were against the idea of totally doing away with tents saying it could deprive the rural communities such as the cattle post dwellers the right to vote; as such they suggested that tents be limited to such areas.

Mr Letswere Letlamma, one of the participants, called on the IEC to consider moving the closing time of polling stations from the conventional 7pm to midnight to give people who travel long distances time to reach polling stations.

He said during the day most people were busy with household chores; as such, opening polling stations until late will enable more people to cast their vote. He also conceded that Batswana needed to be educated more on the importance of a vote, saying most of them only voted along party lines or relatives without considering a candidate’s ability.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Rantsimane Banyatsi expressed displeasure regarding Letlhakeng church leaders’ reluctance to attend occasions such as workshops.

He advised that by virtue of holding positions of authority at their respective churches, they were by extension leaders of the community and therefore should not limit their role only to preaching.

“As a peace-loving country we hold churches in high esteem, therefore church leaders are vital in building a nation,” he said. ENDS