Oarabile Mosikare
8 January 2009
FRANCISTOWN — A special full council meeting here yesterday returned Satellite South councillor Honest Buti Billy and nominated councillor Lamodimo Dikomang unopposed as Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively.
The nomination of Billy and Dikomang was a mere formality since the two had been nominated during a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) caucus the previous day. Their alleged challengers, Monarch South councillor Ignatius Moswaane and Botsalano councillor Esther Mokgosi, pulled out of the race at the last minute.
Former mayor Moswaane was positioning himself to challenge his nemesis Billy for the mayoral seat while former deputy mayor Mokgosi was staking out a claim to the position she lost last year to Dikomang. But the two councillors who recently lost their party primary elections developed cold feet because numbers were not on their side.
Before the nomination of the new mayor for 2009, Billy thanked his colleagues for their immense support last year. He attributed his personal growth to this support. He also thanked the Chief Executive Officer of the City Council of Francistown and her staff for their support. "If we pull together, we can defeat the project challenges that we face," Billy said.
He said the multi-million pula Monarch Bridge is one of the projects that gives the council a headache and that they were faced with illegal trading around the city. Billy pointed out that the council budget was affected by the world economic meltdown.
"Our budget has shrunk," he said. "We should prioritise our projects."
The situation was so bad that some of the projects will have to be shelved because of the economic downturn. After his nomination to become the Mayor of Francistown for the fourth time, he once again asked for his colleagues' cooperation and unity. Dikomang also appealed to his fellow councillors for their continued cooperation and guidance.
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