Those in the public gallery and the press box had fun as the youthful opposition MP took on ruling party MPs with the panache of a seasoned political pugilist. He gave Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) MPs several put-downs. The man who suffered most from Saleshando’s gift of the gab was Foreign Affairs Minister, Mompati Merafhe. The MP condemned the cabinet’s decision to choose Serowe-Palapye as the location of the second university in defiance of a task force which recommended Selebi Phikwe. “The location was not in the best interest of saving the limited resources that the country has,” he said. He dismissed suggestions that the location is a non-issue because Serowe-Palapye is an area within the country and the university would therefore benefit all Batswana.
“Hey, who said all other places are not in Botswana,” he asked.
Merafhe interjected: “With great respect Madam Speaker, I think the honourable member is now being delinquent by deliberately abusing and torturing the truth”. He implied that Saleshando was purposely misrepresenting what his colleagues had said. He advised the youthful MP that they have government to run and a responsibility to run it. But Saleshando said Merafhe, in his submission, never understood the drift of the motion.
“Nobody has ever suggested that you do not have power to make decisions and run the country. It is one thing to have power and the other thing to use it. Go tshwana fela le tlou, e tona mme ga e kake ya tsamaya fela e diga ditlhare mme e ere gotwe go rileng e bo ere ke na le power.” He said there have to be checks and balances to ensure proper use of power.
“You must understand that nobody ever talked about instructing cabinet to change its decision. Maybe it is because in the military, they deal a lot with instructions and there is no longer a difference between request and instruction. But Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, mine was just a request,” he said to thunderous laughter from the gallery. He dismissed BDP MPs as delegates of the party caucus and not true representatives of the electorates. He said this was manifested by the sudden change of mind by the BDP MPs who supported the motion. Commenting on the contribution of the government’s Chief Whip, Botlhogile Tshireletso, Saleshando said her comments were peripheral. He said Tshireletso sees herself as a cabinet minister in waiting by saying that she would not differ with the cabinet. On Khumongwana Maoto’s position on the motion Saleshando said: “O seka wa nna o kare o motho yoo neng a becheditse dipitse. O kare o motho yoo bechetsang dipitse, yoo reng ke ne ke bechitse 66 jaanong go fentse 64. Owaii, go raya gore e ntule diatleng. God forbid. You have to be reasonable and accountable to your electorates”.
He dismissed Tswapong South MP, Oreeditse Molebatsi, as a clown. “In every packet of cards, there is always a joker and I don’t think it is worth responding to what he said.” Molebatsi had sarcastically said the opposition does not want the university situated in Palapye because the nasty experiences they once had in the area. He was referring to the Botswana National Front (BNF) congress in 1998 in Palapye, which ended in violence and a major fallout that put paid to opposition’s chances of coming to power. The split led to the departure of 11 of the 13 BNF MPs to form the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). Saleshando said Molebatsi’s reasoning does not suffice because the two parties continue to hold congresses in the area. On the contribution of Maun West MP Ronald Ridge he sai: “After the comedy that erupted after his presentation, I think I should leave him to rest in peace”. He contradicted cabinet minister, Pelonomi Venson’s assertions that opposition wants the university in Selebi Phikwe to score political points. He said the assertions are not true because BNF snatched a council seat under the BDP’s nose in Serowe area and the BCP also has a council seat in Palapye. Merafhe stood to say “in politics there is no prize for coming second”.
Saleshando responded: “There are prizes for coming second and that is why (cabinet minister) Margaret Nasha is here and it is even worse because there are prizes for not even coming second”. Parliament was thrown into laughter once again. Nasha was beaten to second place by Saleshando in Gaborone Central constituency but got nominated to Parliament where she was re-appointed to the cabinet. However, Merafhe said Saleshando frustrates him by continuing to distort issues.
“Nnyaa o feletswe jaanong,” retorted Saleshando.
He then turned to Education Minister, Jacob Nkate. He said Nkate misled the nation and lied to Parliament by saying that the decision on the location had not been made when he knew that the decision was taken as early as October last year. Merafhe interjected, calling for the intervention of Deputy Speaker Gladys Kokorwe who was in the chair. He said Saleshando was out of order and un-parliamentary by saying another MP was lying “and that is why I used the words torturing and abusing the truth in my earlier comments”.
Saleshando then replied by raising a copy of the Hansard in his right hand. “Ohh. It is right here, in a copy of Hansard. Duke Lefhoko was using the same word lie, right under the nose of the Leader of the House (Merafhe),” he said to the amusement of both the floor and the gallery. Kokorwe then restrained Saleshando from using the word again.
He then went the parables way. “Ok, the minister misled the nation, he became overly economic with the truth and I find it unacceptable that a minister can use this House to torture the truth,” he said.
He added Boteti North MP, Slumber Tsogwane mistook him for one of the BDP MPs whipped to toe the line by suggesting that he should withdraw the motion.
“I am not a BDP member. Simply because the BDP caucus decided against the motion you want me to withdraw it. No,” he said.
Saleshando summed up the contribution that was made by the Mmadinare MP, Ponatshego Kedikilwe with an album title of the high riding jazz kingpin, Bhudaza Mapefane.
“Well, honourable member agreed with me that the decision of cabinet is not convincing and he also favoured Selebi Phikwe as the location. But on why he did not ultimately support the motion can be summarised by Bhudaza’s song when he says ‘Pelo yame e lwantshana le maikutlo’”. As Parliament burst into laughter, he asked Kedikilwe whether he knows the title track. Kedikilwe shook his head to indicate no.
“Then I will give you a copy of the album so that you can listen to it when you go through Robelela and Damchuchinaa to Mmadinare.”
Explaining the title track, Saleshando noted that Kedikilwe would not support the motion because of allegiance to the party. He said the MP feared that if he differed with cabinet, he would be understood to be passing a motion of no confidence in the executive.
Down in the parliamentary mess, MPs exchanged free lessons on how to avoid being embarrassed by the young legislator.
