“Government has collapsed,”Mohwasa
Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is rallying its troops for a civil rights march this Saturday in Tutume.
Dubbed ‘UDC People’s March’, thousands of Umbrella loyalists are expected to turn up, the party spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa, has revealed.
According to Mohwasa, the march will be preceded by a 9am indoor National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting led by President Duma Boko.
“From there, at 12 noon, we’re going to march and hand a petition to the District Commissioner,” said Mohwasa.
He further stated that UDC will be marching against poor service delivery, escalating commodity prices, looming retrenchments, rampant corruption, high unemployment, and for judicial independence.
Mohwasa said Batswana are getting poor service at health and education facilities due to the incompetence of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)-led government.
“There’s no medication in clinics. The government has collapsed,” charged Mohwasa.
The UDC mouthpiece further noted that they are aware that government will be retrenching a lot of people in a few months to come, and are raising their voice against the move.
“It is very bad for a government to retrench people, when already unemployment figures are high. Everyone is struggling, so where are these people supposed to go?” asked Mohwasa.
“The government has indeed collapsed,” he reiterated.
He noted that while such petitions are usually held in cities, it is not unusual to have them away from the city.
“UDC is a national brand. Everything should not be centred around Gaborone and Francistown. We’re marching against issues of national concern, which affect everyone regardless of where they live,” said Mohwasa.
Tutume falls under the Nkange constituency whose Member of Parliament, Dr Never Tshabang, and four others were suspended by their party Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in July.
While the constituency was won by BCP of the UDC, a defiant Tshabang has elected to remain under the Umbrella coalition going into the 2024 general elections.