Serogola accused of clinging to power
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday July 17, 2023 06:00
According to the uncles, ever since April 2022, Seretse has not made any efforts to call a meeting for replacement of former Regent Sediegeng Kgamane nor consulting them on anything.
They now believe he does not want to make way for the rightful Regent. “It all started with Serogola refusing to allow us to hold a meeting to address Morafe on various issues including replacing Kgamane and of course the wellbeing of the main Kgosi Ian Khama. He kept avoiding us until the day we wanted the meeting to be held and said he was unavailable.
We then let Khama know and they spoke but nothing happened until sometime last December when we insisted on holding a meeting. He would then tell us a day before our meeting that we would not be allowed into the kgotla to speak politics about Ian Khama. And they called armed police on us to stop the meeting,” Rasebolai Kgamane said. Kgamane said Seretse called a meeting with the uncles in December where he vented out that he was being disrespected as people held meetings without him. They said this shocked them as he was refusing to give them an ear.
Politics
The uncles said they were shocked to hear of Seretse’s utterances that they had as uncles agreed that Khama should quit politics. “He spoke at kgotlas stating that he wants Khama to quit politics and said we as uncles said so. He also sent dikgosana to tell people so. We wonder why he is doing so because if we want to speak to Khama, we go to him and speak to him directly.
And we wonder why he is only saying this during elections. But it later made sense as he then started saying such at freedom squares. We concluded that he was politicking. It is surprising that he does that but when we speak of Kgosikgolo they say it is politics,” Kgamane said. Kgamane said they were concerned that they are being misrepresented. He also said their main reason for wanting to hold a Kgotla meeting was to consult morafe about replacing Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane who left office abruptly early last year.
He said they also wanted to be able to update Bamangwato about Khama's wellbeing. Furthermore, Rasebolai said they have tried multiple times writing to Seretse but he still ignores them. “The latest attempt was made last week. He ignored our letters requesting to hold a meeting and he had heavily armed police on standby," said Kgamane. The uncles said they have written to Parliament, House of Chiefs and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development complaining about being denied access to their kgotla and dispossession of the Green House.
The letter from Khama
Kgamane believes what broke the camel’s back is a letter dated June 2, 2023 from Khama requesting that Seretse Peter Khama whose name has been brought forward to be recognised as his regent. “We took the letter to the Tribal Secretary who then took it to the Director. To date, there has not been any response from the Ministry. While we waited for the response, we asked Seretse to call a meeting for consultation purposes. I took the letter we wrote to him on the 3rd of July 2023. While awaiting his response, I got a call in the afternoon when I was told to go get my letter. I assumed it was my response, only to find that the letter I was given was the same one I submitted,” he said. Kgamane said they wrote yet another follow up letter as he was convinced Seretse would respond as the process to select a new Regent had to continue. “Now this tells us that he wants to cling on to power. He does not want to move. On the day that we wanted a meeting to be held, he called the police and we found them heavily armed,” he said.
Sir Seretse Khama Day
Just before the Sir Seretse Khama Day commemoration, some letters made rounds on social media where companies were discouraged against funding the event's organisers in Serowe. According to Amigo Nthebolang, who is the secretary for royal uncles, they almost got incarcerated at the instruction of Seretse as they returned from laying wreaths for Sir Seretse Khama and Lady Ruth Khama.
“The committee was unlucky because there are members of the royal family in there. Seretse does not want them. We started having problems last year when he told us not to invite guest speakers. He said the government would not like it if some of them were to attend. We got worried and asked Khama to speak to him. They spoke and he allowed us to continue,” Nthebolang said. Nthebolang added that after the event, the then chairperson invited people for elections into the committee. Upon enquiry, Nthebolang said the chairperson told them that it was an instruction from Seretse. He said while they wanted to start with preparations for 2023 edition, Seretse wrote a letter dissolving the committee. Upon enquiry, he told them he had thought they were no longer interested and told them they could continue. “We told him our constitution does not involve him and we continued.
As we continued, the chairperson and treasurer started avoiding us. We then wrote them letters and tried to continue working. We would learn that Seretse approached the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development (MYSC) not to sponsor us. It turned out it was not just MYSC but also the business community. He said our committee was involved in Bogosi fights and no longer followed their mandate,” he said. Nthebolang said while they invited Khama’s Mophato to help them, they learnt that Seretse had instead invited churches to celebrate the day. Nthebolang said the District Commissioner would tell them Seretse said they should not work with them as he is working with churches on the day. Nthebolang also said since they could not get sponsors, they went up the hill to lay wreaths at the graves of Sir Seretse Khama and Lady Ruth Khama. “We gathered members of the Khama family and some invited guests. We had a service there and upon learning this, Seretse sent some intelligence sleuths, the DIS and Special Support Group (SSG) officers on us. They spoke to us, allowed us to finish our service. We learnt that he had told those gathering at the kgotla that there were some delinquents up hill and that he had sent the police to arrest them,” said Kgamane.
'Khama is out of order'
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Kgotla Autlwetse has since rubbished the claims by the royal uncles. "As far as we are concerned Serogola is in charge, whoever wants to use the Kgotla writes to him and he would call that meeting. In terms of replacing the regent, royal uncles should consult Serogola and he would call a meeting to tell Morafe about their chosen regent," he said. Autlwetse said Khama was out of order to write a letter to Director, Tribal Administration claiming to nominate his chosen regent. "He should know that he is not in office and should write to Serogola. The only letterhead we recognise is from Bangwato Tribal Administration. If they do not do things right, Serogola will continue being there. Also, the current arrangement does not in anyway disrupt our work as there is someone at the Kgotla," he said.