14 Aug 2022

 Residents of the City of Francistown on Thursday proffered a mixed bag of ideas on whether or not there should be an additional constituency in the second city.

They voiced opposing views when making their submissions before the Delimitation Commission at the civic centre hall in Francistown on Thursday.

Some called for the creation of a fourth constituency to be named Francistown North, while others stated, without mincing words, that the idea was overly ambitious.

One of the proponents of the setting up of constituency number four was Ms Theresa Mmolawa, who spoke on behalf of the Party Liaison Committee (PLC) for the Francistown region.

“Francistown is the second city, it is growing at a phenomenal speed and the creation of the fourth constituency will help expedite service delivery to the constituents,” she said.

She said the proposed constituency should comprise such locations as; Dumela, Ntshe, Area W, Blue Town, Monarch, Area S, Government Camp, Light Industrial and others.

Monarch Ward Development Committee (Chairperson), Mr Daniel Jeremane’s sentiments mirrored those of Ms Mmolawa. 

He proposed further that whatever decision the commission reached, care should be taken not to separate Monarch and Area S locations, saying the two had a lot in common.

“We pray also that the final name of the envisaged constituency should resonate well with the people and that in future, prior awareness campaigns should be pitched to educate members of the public,” he said at conclusion of his presentation.

Masego Umbrella Committee representative, Mr Moatlhodi Nthebolang said residents of Selepa and Donga wished to have stand-alone councillors in future, because of the demographics of the two wards that fall under Francistown East.

He also proposed that there should be a realignment of wards to make Matshelagabedi, Patayamatebele and Matopi fall under the Francistown East constituency; a thing the deputy chairperson of the Commission, Mr Thebeyame Tsimako advised would go against existing district administration boundaries.

When presenting his party, the Botswana Democratic Party’s position, former Francistown South legislator, Mr Khumongwana Maoto said based on the recent population census, the idea to have another constituency in the second city was not possible.

Statistics Botswana has recorded nominal population growth for Francistown since 2011. In 2011, the city registered 98 961 people compared to 102 444 in 2022, which is a small growth of just about 3 483.

His views were shared by the  Alliance for Progressives (AP) vice president and current Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi and Francistown West MP, Mr Ignatius Moswaane.

All three political parties’ representatives toldthe commission that their views on the matter were premised on the fact that the number of people in each of the three constituencies in the City of Francistown fell short of the population quota of 44 000.

Section 64 (3) of the Constitution of Botswana defines population quota as the number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants of Botswana by the number of constituencies into which Botswana is divided, in this instance 57.

“We have realised that based on the latest statistics from the statistics office, we fall below 44 000, which is the population quota to qualify to have an extra constituency,” he stated.

Mr Vain Mamela, former MP for Francistown West, proposed for the realignment of existing wards to ease service delivery in certain wards within the city.

Earlier on, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mr Mokwadi Gabanagae cleared stated that contrary to some reports that insinuated the commission was appointed by the president, the truth of the matter was that the Judicial Service Commission was the one that appointed it as per Section 65 (1) of the Constitution of Botswana. BOPA