BDA Farm Not Formally Handed To Pilikwe

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Monday December 7, 2009 00:00

In an interview with Monitor, Kgosi Bokopano Koodibetse of Pilikwe says it is true that Bangwato regent, Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane, has indicated that he wishes to hand the dilapidated farm to Pilikwe after a consultative meeting during which dikgosi of Mahalapye and Pilikwe said the latter should manage the farm.

'Kgosi Kgamane was concerned about the state in which the BDA farm is in,' says Kgosi Koodibetse. 'So he said it should be handed over to the people of Pilikwe as a matter of urgency so that they may do something about present state.'

However, he says dikgosi of Radisele and Palapye were not happy with Kgamane's decision and that the issue is still at a consultative stage as a result.

For his part, Kgamane has criticised the media for making 'false' reports on the issue.'Journalists seem to thrive on blowing things out of proportion,' Kgosi Kgamane says. 'I have not yet given the farm to the people of Pilikwe; the issue is still at a consultative level.'

He is concerned about the poor state of the farm and wants it attended to urgently. Kgosi Tsoebebe Segotsi of Mahalapye says he has consulted with his people in a 'fully-attended kgotla meeting' and that the general feeling is that the farm should be handed over to Pilikwe because it does not benefit Mahalapye in any way.

'The people of Mahalapye are of the view that the BDA farm should be handed over to Pilikwe because of its proximity to the farm,' he says, adding that he also believes that they have held this view since the farm was started by the founder of Pilikwe, Kgosi Tshekedi Khama.

Meanwhile, the residents of Palapye and Radisele have expressed their reservations about the farm being handed over to Pilikwe. Kgosi Klaas Motshidisi of Palapye says the people of Pilikwe think the farm is rightfully theirs because it was started at their kgotla.

'Kgosi Tshekedi Khama was a man of vision,' Kgosi Motshidisi says. 'While it is true that the BDA was started at the Pilikwe kgotla, I strongly believe that he had meant for it to belong to the Bangwato nation as a whole.'

He believes the farm died with Tshekedi in 1959 since nobody could manage it the way he did.

Kgosi Christian Ntebele of Radisele has declined to speak to Monitor, saying his people do not want to talk to the media about the issue. 'If you want to know the views of the people of Radisele on this issue, you must come here and talk to the consultative committee,' he says.

The BDA was set up in the late 1950s by the late Bangwato Regent, Kgosi Tshekedi with the help of Guy Clutton-Brock, an agricultural advisor and priest from Rusape in the then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It has been hailed as the country's first modern style non-governmental organisation or cooperative.