22 Mar 2023

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has no mandate on the description of regional boundaries for the selection of Ntlo ya Dikgosi members.

Ntlo ya Dikgosi members, she said, were selected from their regions in terms of Section 78 (3) of the Constitution of Botswana, which states that ‘there shall be twenty (20) regions as listed in the second schedule to the Constitution, the boundaries of which shall be defined by an act of Parliament’.

Assistant of Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Talita Monnakgotla told Parliament on Monday March 20 that she was however aware that the Member for Ntlo ya Dikgosi for Tonota was covering a vast area.

The mandate for the standing committee that was recently established, she observed, would look at the conditions of service and allowances for Members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi.

Currently, she noted that where prior arrangements had been made, Members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi were accordingly provided with transport.

Ms Monnakgotla was answering a question from Tonota MP, Mr Pono Moatlhodi, who wanted to know if the minister was aware that Tonota Ntlo ya Dikgosi representative’s area of jurisdiction from Mokubilo to Moletemane in the Bobirwa was vast.

He also wanted to know if the minister was aware of any plans in place to normalise the situation and if the said magosi representatives were ever given transport allowance for their consultative meetings. Ends