No BDF commander, or defence minister
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday April 14, 2014 16:02
There Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Ndelu Seretse, was also conspicuous by his absence. Instead the new soldiers were welcomed by retired Major General Bakwena Oitsile, also the chairman of BDF Retired Members Association.
It is the first time that the newly graduating privates were not welcomed by the minister and the commander. There was not a single cabinet minister at the ceremony.
It is generally accepted as the culture and tradition of the BDF to make the newly recruited soldiers welcome into the army and the country they serve by the commander and the Minister of Defence, respectively.
The BDF spokesman Col Tebo Dikole sounded angry on Friday as The Monitor sought to know why the commander and the minister did not attend the ceremony. First he said the commander was there at the event.
“Whenever he is not present, his deputy assumes the role of the commander. The minister was represented also, remember this ministry has many departments, there were some representatives of the departments from the Ministry of Defence, so the minister was represented”.
The Monitor also sought to know the whereabouts of the BDF Commander and the Minister of Defence, to which Dikole responded angrily saying the question was unnecessary.
However, some senior soldiers who learnt from the day’s programme that the graduation ceremony, also known as the pass-out parade, would be performed by a retired army officer, were heard murmuring against the choice of guest speaker.