02 Jun 2022

The kgotla, being the bedrock of Batswana’s consultative process, should be constitutionally entrenched, in acknowledgement of its role in sustaining the nation’s spirit of consultation.

Mr Bonewamang Ntuane of Nata said this yesterday when making submissions before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution.

He said while Batswana continued to hold the kgotla system in high regard, the constitution should reinforce their belief in it and preserve both the institution and what it stood for.

“Ke na le mogopolo wa gore lefoko lone le, le le reng ‘Kgotla’ le tsenngwe mo molao-motheong. Kgotla ke segarona; setšhaba se tshwanetse se sireletsege fa se bua mo kgotleng fela jaaka mapalamente ba sireletsega fa ba bua kwa palamenteng,” he said, meaning if  it were recognised by the constitution, those participating in its meetings would have kgotla privilege in the same way Members of Parliament had parliamentary immunity.  

While he hailed the constitution for having unified Botswana’s different tribes, Mr Isaac Nthaba said recognition of only eight tribes out of the many that constituted Botswana was a blot that should be wiped off for the nation to become truly one.

Mr Nthaba said it was not enough for the nation to be chorusing about tribal cohesion and unity when the law was yet to acknowledge other tribes that formed the nation.

He said recognising all the tribes would validate Botswana’s democracy and not merely pay lip service to it.

Representing Dukwi, Ms Ipontsheng Selebaleng appealed for the standardisation of bogadi, as well as for the man and the woman to each pay bogadi to the woman’s family in equal share when they married.

Ms Selebaleng said Dukwi residents felt that men often lost out in divorce and that having the women also pay bogadi would cause many women to reconsider before walking out of marriage, as they too would have incurred expenses towards the unity.

Manxotae residents, through Mr Galethata Zibane asked for Basarwa to be recognised by the constitution.

“Manxotae residents want Basarwa to be recognised by the law and to be added to the list of the eight tribes that are currently in the constitution.

If they desire the same, the other tribes will present their own case, but the Basarwa of Manxotae want their tribe to be recognised,” said Mr Zibane.

Additionally, he said the residents also desired to be dissociated from Gammangwato, arguing that they were a standalone tribe and wanted to be recognised as such.

Kgosi Rebagamang Rancholo had earlier on decried the constitution’s lack of recognition of bogosi, and shared his wish for the revocation of Sections 77-79 on grounds that they were silent on the institution.

Kgosi Rancholo further requested that the Tribal Territories Act should be reviewed to show and acknowledge the different tribes that existed within a specific territory.

On calls for the president to be elected directly, he argued to the contrary, saying there was nothing wrong with the current system through which the head of state was elected.

“For the president to be elected based on the number of parliamentary seats that his party garnered does not mean he was not elected by the people.

I also do not see the need for a sitting president to be subjected to legal proceedings; that would taint his administration,” he said, adding that the provisions of the law for a sitting  president to be prosecuted, if need be, after he/she vacated office, were adequate. ENDS