19 Nov 2013

Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Gilson Saleshando has called for the substantive tribal equality among all the tribes in the country.

Commenting on the State-of-the-Nation Address, Mr Saleshando said it was disturbing to note that some tribes were still regarded as minority tribes despite many years of independence.

The MP said there must be a thorough constitutional review process to ensure equal legislative representation and protection for all ethnic groups, including amendment of The Tribal Land Act and the Chieftainship Act to ensure substantive equality for all.

He said there should be engagement with all ethnic minority communities to ensure that they have a say in their own development processes and highlighted that government messages and in particular health and HIV/AIDS information should be translated into all Botswana languages.

“The education programmes should be to be developed to incorporate all of Botswana’s ethnic diversity and the teaching of all Botswana languages, as well as the promotion of the use mother tongue at primary schools,” said Mr Saleshando.

He said it was regrettable that the address acknowledged the founders of the country as it stated that, “we are all deeply indebted to the founders of our great Republic, who ignored the example of many by remaining true to their own conviction that Government governs best when it governs by and with, as well as for, the people.”

Mr Saleshando was of the view that the founders of the country were to be blamed for promoting tribalism in the country and treating other ethnic groups as more superior than the others, since they only identified some tribes in the country and not all.

Therefore, he said there was no democracy in the country since some tribes were still regarded as majority even up to date. He said, Batswana could not pride themselves with democracy unless there was an integration of all ethnic groups in the country.

Mr Saleshando said the forced relocation of some ethnic groups from their places of origin to places where governments thought it suited them was a true indication of human rights violation in the country.

He said government needed to refrain from forceful relocation of ethnic groups from their ancestral land as doing so is direct violation of their human rights and the complete opposite of democracy.

Furthermore, Mr Saleshando blamed the education system for failing to produce graduates who could significantly contribute in uplifting the country’s economy. “The education system has been focusing a lot on white collar jobs graduates rather than industrialized graduates who will be able to drive the country’s economy to greater heights,” he said.

He said government needed to focus more on developing graduates who will be able to create jobs instead of seeking jobs after tertiary education. He added that the state- of-the-nation address has therefore failed to address issues on how the country can improve the education sector and align it with the country’s economic diversification mandate. ENDS