Werda chieftaincy elections under scrutiny
Zolani Kraai | Monday June 19, 2023 06:00
This follows the election of Bruce Khekhene as the village’s new Kgosi, taking over the reins from the retired Kgosi Keleofile Phihadu.
According Johannes Visagie, the spokesperson for the disgruntled Mary Isaacs and her daughter in-law, Jessica, the gender discrimination issue arose during the election process when the duo was allegedly sidelined by the election observers from participating in the elections.
Visagie said no reasons were advanced to Mary and Jessica for the decision not to allow them to vote, but were just told by one official, name known to this publication, that they cannot vote because they are women married outside Werda.
Visagie said prior to the elections, Tsabong District Commissioner, BigBoy Mangwa had earlier advised the Werda community to elect an election committee, which they did, and would formulate regulations that were to give guidance to the eligibility of voters. Among the critical regulations at the centre of the debate during one of the meetings ahead of the elections was to reconsider allowing married women originating from Werda but in matrimony from outside Werda to stand for elections.
“Initially the committee did not allow married women of Werda origin, but married outside to stand to vote but after intensive consultation, a consensus was reached to allow them to vote, but only for Mary and her daughter to be sidelined during the election process, to the shock of the concerned parties and pockets of overseers in attendance,” shared Visagie.
He further said Mary and her daughter approached some of the observers about the confusions only to be told by a certain observer gentleman, (name known to this publication) that they cannot participate in the voting process because they are married outside Werda. When contacted, the elections committee chairperson, Oduetse Gaboitaolelwe, who earlier declined to be interviewed referred this publication to the District Commissioner (DC).
But when pressed, he stated that he was only assigned by the DC to chair the committee and they have since submitted the report. Gaboitaolelwe would later during the interview open up by stating that indeed women of Werda origin but married outside Werda and had no longer residence in the village were not allowed to vote. He said as for the Isaacs, they were allowed to participate in the voting process to the denial of the two women. “I know the two women, and of course they are married from outside but they still have residence in Werda and they were allowed to vote.
There is nothing special about these two women that would have denied them to vote since they passed the voters vetting process,” charged Gaboitaolelwe. Notwithstanding that, DITSHWANELO, The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, when approached by the complainants, conducted its investigations and compiled a report which it later submitted to the Director of Tribal Administration. The centre stated that it interviewed seven people who were reported to have been witnesses of the rejection of the two women who wanted to vote in the elections in Werda on the October 15, 2022.
Four people contacted reported witnessing the rejection of the two women, two other said they did not see the rejection and further said one was not interested in the matter since the elections were over. DITSHWANELO stated that some members of the election committee were also contacted but refused to be interviewed because of the uncertainty about the actual identity of the interviewer.
Of the four people who agreed to be interviewed, all said they heard two people, a mother and her daughter being turned away and not being able to vote during the election of the new Kgosi. According to DITSHWANELO, interviewees said the two women were rejected because they are married to people from outside Werda and they did not have any property in Werda as it was sold. However, another interviewee said the daughter was not allowed to vote even though she has a plot in Werda. In the mist of the uncertainty, one interviewee who had been one of the candidates for the chieftainship said that he went inside with the other candidates to negotiate on the matter and stated that the two women were later given a chance to vote since their parents were still members of the community of Werda.
The DITSHWANELO report stated that 15 people, all women, were reportedly rejected because they were married outside Werda and from the interviews gathered, none of the men with similar marriage status were not rejected to vote. On the basis of the interviews, DITSHWANELO concluded that there is strong possibility that the election officers did not treat every potential voter fairly and equitably and that may have compromised the validity of the outcome of the elections.
Also, the centre stated that it is highly possible that there was discrimination between those who were prevented from voting and those who ought to have been prevented from voting for reasons of not being eligible and gender discrimination. In a letter addressed to DITSHWANELO, in response to the centre’s investigations, the Director of Tribal Administration, Patrick Tlotleng noted that an enquiry on the matter has been completed and those who were responsible for overseeing the election process indicated that nobody lodged any complaint regarding harassment or discrimination during elections, thus the elections were conducted in a free and fair environment.