|
 Brownie Rabosigo Ditshwane who runs a travel and tourism business said the tribal administration is responsible for his non-appearance at the House of Chiefs elections. He said he was nominated by Chobe area chief, Peter Johane Chika, but unlike other nominees, he was never taken for orientation prior to the elections. He claimed that Chika was not given the relevant information. Hence while others took their nominees to the House of Chiefs for the election, Chika did not. At the beginning of the House of Chiefs session, Chika presented Ditshwane’s name, but he was disappointed to learn that if his nominee was not present, he would not be endorsed to stand.
Ditshwane suspects that the Tribal Administration staff in Kasane withheld critical information with a motive to sabotage him. “I strongly suspect that the Tribal Administration office (Kasane) violated its terms of Reference in order to insure against my election,” Ditshwane stated in the letter. He told Mmegi that a chieftainship rivalry in the area has seen civil servants taking sides. He said that he is a member of the royal family and demanded that the chairman of the House of Chiefs, Kgosi Seepapitso IV must call for a re-run of the elections.
The court clerk at Kasane Tribal Administration offices said that she knew nothing about Ditshwane’s allegations. She said that she recently heard the businessman accusing her office of bad practices. Deputy court president at the Kasane Tribal Administration office, Moffat Mwezi said that the forms that were sent to them to give Chika and Ditshwane to fill did not indicate whether the businessman was supposed to attend the House of Chiefs session. Mwezi said that Ditshwane was interviewed by the District Commissioner for election to the House of Chiefs. He said that Ditshwane’s nomination papers were faxed to Parliament - from where the House of Chiefs is administered - but the Kasane authorities never got any reply.
Chika could not be contacted because he was on a trip. After Ditshwane was knocked out, the House of Chiefs proceeded to elect Oarabile Kalaben from Kanye, Jackson Dema from Central District and Benjamin Mathe from North East District.
|
