17 Sep 2018

Member of Parliament for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana says the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) appears to have been ill-prepared for the ongoing voter registration exercise.

The MP was addressing a kgotla meeting in Taung recently, as part of his tour of the constituency.

He observed that on the first day of registration, some polling station were not even furnished with adequate stationary and furniture.

He noted that to date, registration officers had not been provided with toilets, water with some assisting customers in the open.

The MP further regretted that some polling stations had been moved and faulted the commission for lack of consultation.

He stated that there was nothing that could be done to force the commission to increase the village’s polling stations to four.

Mr Rantuana added that he did not recall any consultation from the commission with regard to reducing polling stations to four to three.

He said the actions taken by IEC to reduce the number of the polling stations had the potential to discourage some people from registering to vote as they would have to travel long distances to and from the polling stations.

Mr Rantuana also stressed the need for public officers to do their best to serve the community.

He said public officers were employed mainly to serve the community regardless of which political party is in power, and that they are however free to express their disapproval or approval of the government when casting their ballot.

Mr Rantuana said failure to diligently serve the public would not only hurt the government of the day, but has direct impact on the community.

On other issues, the MP commended Taung Village Development Committee for its role in steering developments in the village.

Earlier, Kgosi Ruben Masie regretted that IEC had reduced polling stations in Taung from four to three without consultations.

He stated that the other side of the village was far from all the polling stations, which he said forced residents to travel long distance to stations.

Kgosi Masie also pleaded with the community to support their leaners as they prepare to seat for Primary School Leaving Examination, Junior Certificate and Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education.

He said the residents should give the leaners the necessary support during the examination and further said they were worried about youth delinquency. ENDS