30 Jul 2025

The criteria used to determine the salary of Dikgosi is spelled out in the Revised National Settlement Policy (RNSP) of 2004 and are guided by the Population and Housing Census.

Answering a question in Parliament on Tuesday, the Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, said that Ghanzi District had one in D2 scale with no D4 scale, Tutume District has three in D2 scale and eight in D4 scale whereas North East has 10 in D2 and one in D4.

Minister Motshegwa cited that the policy provided that  Moemela Kgosi yo Mogolwane at the D2 salary scale oversees a population of 10 000 to 19 999, whereas a Moemela Kgosi at D4 oversees a population of 5 000 to 9 999.

He said the ministry does not determine the salaries of Dikgosi; however, it classifies the headship of villages guided by the RNSP of 2004 together with the Population and Housing Census over the years.

He noted that in Tutume District, there are three villages being Tutume, Nata, and Gweta, which are headed at the D2 salary scale. As for North East District, Minister Motshegwa highlighted that there are 10 villages that are headed at the D2 salary scale, whereas Ghanzi District has one village that is headed at the D2 salary scale. He added that only Tutume and Tatisiding villages qualified to be headed at D2 according to the RNSP of 2004.

Minister Motshegwa also stated that the ministry noted that these variations were introduced to address specific challenges associated with the judicial functions of Dikgosi, which necessitated a judicial officer holding a higher-level warrant to preside over both criminal and civil cases and to impose more substantial sentences; hence they were elevated outside the provisions of the RNSP.

Furthermore, he noted that the ministry does not consider this an injustice but rather an administrative measure to address the exigency of service, whereby villages within Tutume District like Nata and Gweta also benefited from the same process of judicial empowerment of Dikgosi.

Currently, Minister Motshegwa said the Bogosi Act is under review, and it is envisaged that the revised Act will, among other things, set parameters for clear criteria for determining village headship and consequently standardise all processes.

Moreover, he indicated that the ministry does not have any plans for decentralising Bogosi such that it aligned with district boundaries and makes Tutume District independent of Serowe District.

“It is important to highlight that one of the primary objectives of the 2022 decentralisation exercise was to enhance administrative expediency without tampering with tribal administration,” he explained.

However, he emphasised that consultations on the Review of the Bogosi Act of 2008 are still ongoing. Through this process, he said comprehensive input from Batswana on the kind of transformation they wished to see within the Bogosi institution would be gathered.

The minister was responding to a question from the Nkange MP, Mr Motlhaleemang Moalosi, who had asked him to state the number of Dikgosi, their villages, and the population of residents each Kgosi oversees as per the 2022 Population and Housing Census who are paid on D2 and D4 scales in Ghanzi, Tutume, and North East Districts respectively.

He further asked the minister to state the criteria used to determine the salary scale for Dikgosi and why those in Tutume District are disadvantaged compared to Dikgosi in other districts.

Mr Moalosi also wanted to know about plans to address this injustice and whether there are any plans in line with the Government’s Decentralisation policy to make Tutume District’s Tribal Administration independent of Serowe District. Sub-edited/Ketumile/29072025. ENDS