10 Nov 2019

Kgosi Ezekiel Joel was last week elected to represent the Bobirwa region at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi.

The 76 dikgosi, who cast their votes at Bobonong brigade gave Kgosi Joel 43 votes against 29 for Kgosi Letso Malema of Molalatau and four for Kgosi Olgas Serumola of Mathathane.

According to the presiding officer, Ms Gomolemo Moepeng, who is also senior assistant council secretary for Bobirwa Subordinate Council, the elections went on smoothly, marked by unfettered transparency.

Ms Moepeng said all the nominated dikgosi accepted the results of the elections, which were conducted through the Independent Electoral Commission’s tally sheets.

Save for Kgosi Malema, the duo of Kgosi Joel and Kgosi Serumola (though having accepted the results) have spoken against elections of Ntlo Ya Dikgosi representatives.

The duo dubbed the process a political move that required dikgosi to traverse the length and breadth of the region canvassing for votes.

Kgosi Joel feared that the campaigns were political and risked polarising the institution and indeed the whole region.

Not only that, he also feared that factions may develop along the voting lines.

He said if the arrangement persists then the line between bogosi and politics would be blurred.

In fact, Kgosi Joel observed that there were politicians who sought support of dikgosi in their mission for political offices, promising dikgosi a quid pro quo when they stand for Ntlo Ya Dikgosi posts.

He promised to represent Bobirwa region with utmost diligence by always first consulting with dikgosi in the region before attending any Ntlo Ya Dikgosi session.

He said then the results of the consultative meetings would be his contributions at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi.

He was finally relieved that a kgosi from Bobonong, as the biggest village in the region where dikgosi from other villages report, would represent the region at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi.

This, Kgosi Joel said, would therefore eliminate chances of two centres of power that could result had any of the two dikgosi from outside Bobonong won.

Kgosi Serumola argued that elections of dikgosi to Ntlo Ya Dikgosi was a political and flawed system that would forever see dikgosi from big villages garnering more votes at the expense of those from smaller villages, owing to the influence they wield.

As a result, he called on government to consider having paramount chiefs in all regions in order to stop the elections of dikgosi to Ntlo Ya Dikgosi.

Mathathane community leader proposed that requirements to Ntlo Ya Dikgosi be set and dikgosi who satisfy the minimum should then apply and sit for interviews, rather than having a kgosi being voted for.

He argued that some dikgosi would forever be disadvantaged so long as the election system prevailed.

For his part, Kgosi Malema, who represented Bobirwa region at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi in the past years, accepted defeat and expressed no qualms at the results.

He wished his successor well and that he represents the region with distinction.

However, he expressed concern about the election processes, which he found to be time consuming. ENDS