Mfa dismissed the claims as a ploy by his detractors to rope in their favoured man.

When contacted about the incident, Mfa questioned who invited Ntuane to officiate at the independence celebrations. “Who invited him as a guest speaker in my constituency without my knowledge?” Mfa asked. “His father, who is a councillor in Nata and two other members of the independence committee, just invited Ntuane without the knowledge of the Village Development Committee (VDC) and even myself,” he pointed out. Mfa said that for the past three months, he has been preparing himself as a guest speaker, only to learn that Ntuane was brought in at the 11th hour without his knowledge. “Nata-Gweta is my constituency and I am not a nominated MP. I have been voted by the people in that area,” Mfa said.

“He can’t use the 40th anniversary of the independence to launch a political campaign in my area. Whether he is going to challenge me in the next party primaries or not, I don’t care,” Mfa said. He stressed that Nata-Gweta is currently his and the area does not have two MPs, as some people want to claim. “I will continue denying Ntuane the chance to address some of these meetings. He is lucky because he is a friend of the media and will continue coming to you,” Mfa said. He added that despite Ntuane’s close interaction with the media the area would remain his. He added that he should give his approval for any politician who is invited to do anything in his area.

In an interview with Mmegi yesterday, Ntuane confirmed that he was prevented from officiating at the Nata kgotla on Independence Day at the 11th hour. “Initially, I was invited as a guest speaker to read the independence message. Two days before the event, I was informed that the programme had been altered and I would no longer be officiating,” said Ntuane. Since Ntuane had plans of visiting his home village during the celebrations, it was a problem to him. He said he did not know who ordered the change of programme. “I was told that it was the area MP Mfa, who ordered the changes. Just reading a message at a kgotla is not a political move that could offend anybody,” Ntuane said. He disclosed that he later left everything to the committee, who organised the celebrations.

On the afternoon of Independence Day, Ntuane who harbours plans to challenge Mfa in the area officiated at a horse racing activity and awarded prizes to the winners. Ntuane’s name has also been mentioned in relation to the Gaborone-West North and Gaborone Central constituencies as a potential contestant in the next general elections.

The chairperson of the Nata-Gweta independence celebrations committee, Botlhajana Paki said that as far as she is concerned, Ntuane was invited as a villager.

“Unfortunately, Mfa indicated that it was not appropriate to have Ntuane officiate whilst he was there,” explains Paki. She said yesterday that the VDC chairperson who explained that Mfa would be present also said he (Mfa) should be the guest speaker.

The VDC chairman, Keiphile Stephen told Mmegi that the decision to invite Ntuane was taken by a group of people, who support him and not the independence committee. “We were shocked when we heard that Ntuane would be officiating. It is worrying that there are some civil servants who are behind this issue,” observed Stephen, who is a known Mfa supporter. He said they did not enjoy the festivities because of the differences in the village. “We expect the person who has been meddling in village affairs to explain his/her motives at a post-independence meeting. The VDC and the village extension team were apparently ignorant of Ntuane’s invitation,” Stephen said. He expressed hope that the matter would be resolved amicably.

To those in the know, clashes between Mfa and Ntuane are not new, as some Nata-Gweta constituents have campaigned openly for Ntuane against Mfa.