15 May 2016

Participation of football players and other sports persons in elections is vital in promoting democracy, chief information education officer from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) office, Dintle Rapoo has said.

Rapoo said that at an Electoral Processes and Democracy Sustenance workshop organised by IEC for the football fraternity in Lobatse on Thursday. He said the main aim of the workshop was to reveal to footballers that as Botswana citizens, they also had a right to vote and that their efforts could help in democracy sustenance.

He said it was important that footballers knew all the procedures in elections and the importance of voting so that they could make informed decisions which could benefit them in future. He said it was also vital that they knew the role of IEC in elections.

Rapoo said IEC had realised that football players voted in fewer numbers and thought this workshop would help raise their awareness on democracy hence bringing forth more numbers of footballers to voter education, adding that people should not ignore elections nor politics as they were part of their everyday lives.

He said IEC realised the importance of football players as well as the importance of games in their lives, adding that games drove the youth away from bad habits and kept them healthy hence making them healthy voters.

Rapoo said IEC’s mandate was to run elections and make sure elections run in a free and fair environment, stressing that such workshops were run with different stakeholders such as churches and the business community to instil knowledge on them regarding issues of elections.

However he said voting was not compulsory but was every Motswana’s right to take part in, as a sign that the country was democratic.

Earlier in her welcome remarks, principal elections officer Ngatangue Mukungu said the football teams’ response to the workshop showed seriousness and keenness to learn. She said democracy involved every citizen, as such democracy sustenance could be attained through citizen, civic society and stakeholder participation.

For her part, principal elections officer from Kanye, Francinah Moeletsi said the system of elections used in Botswana was the First Pass the Post system which she said had been in use since 1965.

She said the role of IEC was to conduct and supervise elections, as well as ensure elections were efficient, proper, free and fair. She further said IEC provided supervision over the voter registration exercise and also divided constituencies into polling districts and polling stations.

In closing, competitions and regions manager from Botswana Football Association  Stephen Maleka expressed his gratitude to IEC for recognising footballers like any other stakeholder.

He pleaded with IEC to reach out to footballers in other regions, adding that together, democracy could be sustained. He said the workshop was informative and encouraging. ENDS