27 Aug 2017

The MP for Sefhare/Ramokgonami, Ms Dorcus Makgato has told residents of Sefhare, Chadibe and Borotsi that she has tabled proposals to address some of  their concerns with various portfolio ministers.

Addressing kgotla meetings at the villages, Ms Makgato, who is also the Minister of Health and Wellness, detailed various proposals as sought by her electorate.

Amongst the concerns were trying livestock cases at magistrate courts, a move her constituents felt disadvantaged them since they could not afford lawyers to argue their cases against resourced cattle rustlers.

She argued that the rustlers might be resourced as a result of wealth accumulated from stolen livestock.

Ms Makgato said she has engaged the Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi with a view to review the act to restrict livestock cases to customary courts. The MP also said the law should forbid outside court settlements by the accused and the complainant, arguing the move only encouraged theft.

She said livestock theft should be treated with the seriousness accorded wildlife and other protected natural resources so that the perpetrators might learn their lessons.

On other issues related to Minister Kgathi’s portfolio, Ms Makgato said she and other women had tabled that “provocation” be removed as a defence in passion killings. Though she conceded they have not been successful in the campaign, Ms Makgato revealed they would revisit their proposal.

She also said they were agitating for a survey or research in passion killing trends to determine the maximum time the perpetrators of passion killings served in prison. She said their findings had been that passion killers spent an average of three years in prison and walk free after taking a life.

The minister also said she had put before Minister Kitso Mokaila a proposal to review the transport act so that taxis in Sefhare could be allowed to transport passengers to as far as Chadibe, roughly five kilometres away.

She argued that permits given to operators at small villages like Sefhare should differ from those in big villages and towns.

She said the troubling factor in the permits was the interpretation of ‘local’ which restricts Sefhare taxis within the village, putting residents of Chadibe and Borotsi at the receiving end since they were forced to wait for buses from either Mahalapye or Palapye.

The area MP said she believed that Sefhare, Borotsi and Chadibe should be bundled together and fit in the ‘local’ of that locality. She argued that it would not make business sense to have people of Borotsi have taxis that operated only in that village and wondered whether there would be any boarders at all.

Residents had complained that the police stopped taxis from ferrying them from Sefhare to either Borotsi or Chadibe under the guise of  operating outside their borders, claims confirmed by top Machaneng police officers.Ends