- His opponent Mabengano reportedly leading the race
- Incumbent Mayor hopeful of support from sympathisers
- F/town council goes into mayoral elections on Thursday
The Mayor of Francistown Godisang Radisigo is facing a tough battle to defend his seat because his opponent, Ephraim Mabengano, is reportedly gaining more support ahead of a caucus of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) this afternoon.
The caucus is a procedural process to endorse the candidate by virtue of the numerical strength before going into the mayoral elections. The contestant endorsed by a majority of the party’s councillors is declared the mayoral candidate and will be officially elected by councillors across the political divide in the full council session that soon follows, in this instance on Thursday.
However, with the caucus expected to be held today, Radisigo’s challenger, Mabengano, is reported to have gained more support and is likely to dethrone him. “Unless some of us somersault at the last minute, Mabengano is leading this race and should win,” said a BDP councillor.
“Most of us are rallying behind him and have promised to give him our vote. We are convinced that he is the right man for the job and are hopeful that he will be endorsed by a majority of the caucus and declared the candidate?”
Speaking for himself, Mabengano has corroborated this. “The campaign has been running smoothly on my side and I am hopeful of winning,” the Councillor for Government Camp told The Botswana Gazette this week. “We are going into a procedural caucus that I hope will declare me the candidate.”
Reached for comment, Radisigo was hesitant about his level of support. “As we speak, I just attended a meeting convened by councillors who want to endorse me,” he said in an interview. “They wanted to talk to me closely ahead of the caucus. They have promised to revert to me hopefully before the caucus, failing which I will be relying on those who already have promised to support me.”