29 Apr 2019

 Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Kgotla Autlwetse bemoans the declining numbers of registered voters in the country, but more specifically at his constituency of Serowe North.

Speaking during kgotla meetings at Kgamane and Paje, recently, Mr Autlwetse showed that despite efforts by the Independent Electoral Commission to increase the registration time, followed by supplementary registrations, his constituents, and the nation at large have not turned up in greater numbers to feed the expected figures.

At his constituency, which had the highest voters’ turnout in 2014 and thereby elevating him to the summit of the vote charts with 9 611 votes, the numbers have dropped to 12 015 compared to 13 923 voters registered in 2014. 

Mr Autlwetse cut a concerned leader when enumerating various campaign materials and efforts tapped onto by the IEC and indeed the politicians to encourage Batswana to register. 

As part of the voter registration stimulation exercise, the IEC engaged various media platforms to relay messages while politicians through their parties and individually took to the streets and social media urging those eligible to register to vote in October as is the norm.

To his surprise, Mr Autlwetse had anticipated the figures to have soared up more so that there were people who attained years of age from October 2014 to this date. 

Though he conceded that death was another blow to the figures, he contended that death numbers were inferior.

However, the Serowe North legislator cautioned his electorate against voter apathy, which could result from misinformation from other people, especially politicians. 

Mr Autlwetse, who mesmerised his constituents with his rich Setswana, reminding them that it was only through voting that they could hold elected politicians to account for their actions. 

He also reminded his constituents to ensure that their Omang cards were in good order to necessitate them to register and then vote.

Commenting on the same, an officer from the office of the district commissioner Mr Collen Tubego appealed to all to register to vote since it was their right. 

He reminded Batswana that it was not a prerequisite to have a party so one could vote.

Mr Tubego appealed to Serowe North electorate to check voters roll to ensure that their names were captured correctly. 

In an event that they did not appear, Mr Tubego urged them to move swiftly to the IEC to report such anomaly so that it could be fixed. ENDS