25 Nov 2019

Government has been urged to establish media offices in the Charleshill area.

Speaking during review of the last electoral cycle in Ghanzi South constituency recently, senior assistant council secretary for Charleshill Sub-district Council, Mr Christopher Maramba, said being serviced from Ghanzi was insufficient.

Mr Maramba said the current situation did not only affect elections, but coverage of other activities within the region.

Even though they agreed that the recent elections cycle went without major hiccups, participants said more needed to be done to educate Batswana about general elections.

They suggested that mock polls be conducted to prepare stakeholders, including the polling staff, for elections.

“During voting day, some people would be trembling, while some even collapse because they have limited knowledge about elections,” one participant, Ms Uetjivaza Kanguaiko said.

They said if mock polls were held, issues of spoilt votes, voter trafficking, misconduct as well as delays would be a thing of the past. In addition, they stated that illustrating the voting process on media platforms such as television could also help. 

One participant, Ms Gertrude Masunga was of a view that the Electoral Act should be amended to allow Batswana in diaspora to vote for both members of parliament and council candidates.

There was also a call to do more to accommodate people with disabilities.

One of the recommendations was for government to consider barring trading of alcohol a day before and on election day since it was difficult to deal with intoxicated people.

Reacting to the suggestions/recommendations, elections officer, Ms Galaletsang Kgari agreed that mock polls could be an effective tool, revealing that they do mock polls in some of their training sessions.

Ms Kgari promised that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) would look into the recommendations. ENDS