24 Jan 2017

Member of Parliament for Gabane-Mmankgodi, Maj. Gen Pius Mokgware has cautioned residents of Mmankgodi to be careful about issues of bogosi as, he says, they can bring division among the community

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Mmankgodi recently, Maj. Gen Mokgware said Bahurutshe should avoid causing chieftaincy feuds as it will not be easy to put them off once they start and they can damage the name of the tribe.

MP Mokgware was responding to residents who were pleading for Maj. Gen  Mokgware’s intervention, saying that this year marked three years without Bahurutshe having a chief since the passing of  Kgosi Letlole Mmonye Thobega.

Residents said there are three potential successors from royal families being Christopher Letlole, Solofelang Letlole and Motira Letlole and therefore did not understand what was causing the delay in inaugurating Kgosi Thobega’s successor.

Some concerned residents suggested that they should elect a new chief who some said would disrupt royal lineage.

A resident, Jerry Tau said the reason why some residents together with him were reluctant to attend kgotla meetings was that they did not want to legitimise any kgosi that the residents may not like as was likely to be the case in a kgosi elected in a public meeting.

Mr Tau pled with MP Mokgware to seek help from Kgosi Kgari III regarding Bahurutshe chieftaincy .

In his response, MP Mokgware requested residents to respect their founding chief, the late Letlole Thobega, and consider making a statue of him and make a cultural heritage centre as a way of reserving their culture.

He implored councillors to work together towards developing the village despite that they do not have a chief and promised residents that he would meet with Kgosi Kgari III to resolve the matter.

On other issues, the residents complained about the way their landboard allocated plots saying that they suspected foul play as they had realised cases where new applicants got plots before people who applied as far back as in 2004.

In his response, councillor for Mmankgodi North, Ofentse Mafoko warned residents to be careful when electing landboard members lest they vote corrupt individuals into power in future.

MP Mokgware also revealed to residents what NDP 11 had in store for their village amongst them being the extension of the village clinic to include a maternity ward.

In conclusion, MP Mokgware urged parents to work with teachers towards improving the academic results of students in Mmankgodi.     

He said it was worrisome that Letlole Primary School dropped from a pass rate of 54 per cent last year to 53 per cent this year while Mmonye Primary School scored 75 per cent.

He therefore encouraged head teachers from these schools to benchmark with schools that were doing well so that they also improved.BOPA