Lucas finally triumphs after 20 years

Veteran opposition politician, Paolo Lucas, finally saw his patience pay off when he won the parliamentary seat for Bobonong constituency in last week’s general elections.

Lucas who was contesting under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) ticket first contested for the elections in the constituency in 1999 under Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and would continue contesting for elections that followed thereafter.

Although in 2014 he lost to Shaw Kgathi with a rather slim margin of 120, last week Lucas won Bobonong parliamentary seat by beating his close opponent, Francisco Kgoboko with a margin of 850 voters.

Lucas had gathered 8953 votes while Kgoboko saw 8103 votes go in his favour.

Independent candidate, Jan Moshokwa, came third with 762 votes whereas Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) candidate, Njobo Ofentse came fourth with 287 votes.

Speaking after his historic win, Lucas said it was only patience which paid off.

“I worked very hard for the last 20 years and I think people began to realize that I can make a difference and that made them to vote for me ahead of other candidates,” said Lucas saying it was not an easy road.

Kgoboko, a political newcomer, said even though he lost, he was happy that while it was his first time contesting elections, he was able to garner an impressive number of votes.

Kgoboko promised to offer his support to Lucas for the development of the area.

Meanwhile Moshokwa and Ofentse blamed lack of resources which they say hindered them from mounting serious campaigns.

They however accepted the results and congratulated the winner and both say they will go back to the drawing board to map a way forward.