25 May 2025

In a democratic set up, consultations play a vital role in ensuring citizen participation and promoting informed decision-making processes, Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa has said.

Speaking at a consultative kgotla meeting in Mahalapye on Thursday, the minister said consultations provided a platform for citizens to share their opinions, ideas and concerns, influencing policy development and implementation, noting such consultations presented opportunities for diverse perspectives to be heard.

The local government ministry is on a countrywide tour to consult on Bogosi Act of 2008 and Customary Act of 2013 reviews. 

At the meeting, he said when government reviewed and made laws as well as other forms of development no one should be left behind. 

Further, he said development should not only translate into infrastructure, but also should impact people’s lives, hence the need to traverse the country to consult on Bogosi Act and Customary Court Act review to come up with the most relevant laws.  Therefore, he said such consultations would spell out challenges and applicable solutions to daily challenges faced by Batswana.

However, Mr Motshegwa said the review of Bogosi and Customary Court Acts were geared to give prominence and potency to the role and stature of Bogosi in a modern democracy. 

He also said in the envisaged Bogosi Act, Kgosikgolo title would be incorporated or assimilated into the act, arguing the law should reflect circumstances on the ground pertaining to Batswana’s lives as in the current scenario the word Kgosikgolo only exist ‘in the air’ but not recognised by the act.

He also said with a view to give Bogosi dignity, prominence and potency, they would get rid of title dikgosana and replace it with a more dignified title, adding that in the current Bogosi Act, Dikgosi structure was as follows; kgosi, mothusa kgosi, moemela kgosi o mogolwane, moemela kgosi and kgosana in sequential order.

“In the envisaged act, the dikgosi structure would be as follows; kgosikgolo, mothusa kgosikgolo, kgosi, moemela kgosi wa ntlha, moemela kgosi wa bobedi le kgosi ya tletlanyo.”

He spoke fondly of revamping the Tribal Administration structure, noting such a move would improve the working conditions of dikgosi to ensure they had adequate tools of the trade for them to effectively and efficiently discharge their duties as well as their remuneration should give dikgosi dignity.

The minister further said Customary Court Act guided dikgosi on prosecution issues pertaining to criminal and civil cases, hence the need to consult them on how best to transform the act. 

Mr Motshegwa said government departments were advised to review their programmes, policies and laws to remove bottlenecks that might be detrimental to effectively and efficiently discharge their mandate.

He said programmes should be deliberately tailor made to cater for the lives of Batswana and provide solutions for daily challenges faced by Batswana.

Ipelegeng programme, initially designed for temporary employment to cushion Batswana against economic hardships and providing basic livelihoods, Minister Motshegwa said it would undergo transformation geared at transitioning it into a more agile and robust Public Works Programme, with beneficiaries remunerated for P2 500.

Mr Motshegwa said the programme would drift from providing temporary employment to empowering beneficiaries through engagement in basic infrastructure development and maintenance citing Bonno Housing programme in which the ministry would liaise with Technical and Vocational Education and Training providers for skills transfer. ENDS