27 Aug 2013

Any correspondence purporting to have approved the upgrading of two dikgotla in Tutume and one in Nkange has been nullified.

Addressing an emotionally charged kgotla meeting, which took more than seven hours in Tutume on August 26, the Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe said the process that led to the purported sanction to upgrade the three dikgotla of arbitration to become those of records did not follow Section 7 of the Customary Courts Act and the current arrangement in the country.

Dr Kedikilwe explained that his investigations regarding the upgrading of Magapatona, Selolwane in Tutume and Mabuwe in Nkange revealed that in 2006, Magapatona residents made a request to Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane for their kgotla to be upgraded.

A follow up was made through a letter dated October 4, 2007. He added that on November 13, 2007, Kgosi Kgamane acknowledged receipt of the letter from the residents and promised to meet the minister to discuss the matter.

The following year, on May 9, then MP for Nkange who was also Assistant Minister of Local Government, Mr Ambrose Masalila wrote a letter to Kgosi Kgamane proposing that Magapatona, Selolwane and Mabuwe be upgraded. The Vice President said after Mr Masalila’s letter, Kgosi Kgamane wrote to Mr Masalila on September 5, accepting the request to upgrade the three dikgotla.

Then on September 9, Mr Masalila’s private secretary wrote to Kgosi Jenamo Magapatona informing him of the communication from Kgosi Kgamane. The VP said the same communication was also sent to the Director of Tribal Administration by Mr Masalila’s private secretary on October 28, 2008.

He said on March 2, 2010 the deputy permanent secretary in the then Ministry of Local Government wrote to Kgosi Magapatona informing him that due to the economic meltdown, it was impossible for the three dikgotla to be upgraded during 2010/11 financial year or in the foreseeable future.

However,  he promised that the matter would be revisited when the financial situation improved. Dr Kedikilwe explained that the correct procedure should have been that Kgosi Magapatona and Kgosi Toteng Ndzonga of Nkange should have assessed the need to upgrade and made recommendations to Kgosi Kgamane, who in turn would have made a recommendation to the Minister of Local Government through the Director of Tribal Administration.

The Director of Tribal Administration, taking into consideration availability of funds, post, support staff and infrastructure, would have made a recommendation to the minister for approval of the establishment, recognition and gazetting of those dikgotla.

Furthermore, he said, the decision of the minister would have been then routed through the Director of Tribal Administration to Kgosi Kgamane who would have communicated the same to Kgosi Magapatona and Kgosi Ndzonga. He said besides the wrong procedure followed, the current arrangement was that there could not be more than one court of record within the same village.

He said Magapatona and Selolwane were wards of arbitration within Tutume where already a court of record existed.  The same applied to Mabuwe because it fell under the jurisdiction of Nkange main kgotla, he said.

A resident of Nkange, Mr Batisani Maswibilili expressed disappointment at all the officers and dikgosi who handled the issue for their failure to detect that procedure was flawed. He suggested that action should be taken against all the concerned officers and dikgosi because they misled the people of Tutume and Nkange.

Kgosi Boy Mabuwe, who was furious about the outcome of the meeting, said it was untrue that Kgosi Magapatona and Kgosi Ndzonga were not part of the team that made recommendations and promised that he would appeal to the President for intervention.

For his part, Mr Masalila said the research by Dr Kedikilwe on the matter was incomplete and that he suspected there were some people who were determined to tarnish his image. “Whoever has this wrong motive does not only tarnish my image but also denies the community what they deserve,” said the angry former assistant minister. 

Mr Masalila said there were a number of dikgotla in the country such as Semitwe, which were upgraded through the same process that was said to be flawed. In response, Dr Kedikilwe noted that his research was not aimed at tarnishing anybody’s image but he merely wanted to establish what really transpired.

He invited anybody who had documentary proof contrary to his findings to come forth in order to have a balanced outcome of the issue. Dr Kedikilwe also said the Office of the President was open to any Motswana who had any issue to discuss with the President.   ENDS