Lesenepole/Matolwane name to be put to vote
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday July 28, 2015 17:02
They agreed Sunday night on the voting system that would allow the two villages to choose one common name to share.
The residents who came in large numbers at Lobatse High Court also agreed, through their respective lawyers that all voters would be registered and the names published before the actual voting process to avoid any suspicions.
Justice Shakes Busang made the order after the two parties agreed to cooperate.
The order read in court stated that, “A date of July 27, 2015 set as an election date shall constitute a date for a registration of voters of residents of the village variously known as Matolwane/Lesenepole, and the voters’ roll shall be published at the Kgotla by Wednesday 29 July 2015”.
The consent order also states that the registration period shall commence from 07:30 hours and end at 16:30 hours and that any dissatisfaction about eligibility of a certain voter or voters shall be lodged with an election officer who shall be a Government official delegated as such.
“Any person lodging a dissatisfaction shall demonstrate good reasons informing his/her dissatisfaction and the election officer shall have the power to uphold or overrule a dissatisfaction presented to him/her decision shall be final. Elections shall be held on the 2nd August 2015 at the village Kgotla from 07:30 to 16:30 hours,” further reads the order.
Residents of both villages of Matolwane and Lesenepole were supposed to vote for a name yesterday (Monday) following a meeting with Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane.
Tsogwane had scheduled July 27, 2015 as the voting day before dissatisfied residents Bashime Dintwe and Joseph Motlhanka lodged an urgent application with the High Court. The two applicants acting on behalf of residents of villages of Raphiri, Moremi and Matoposane said they collectively objected to the manner in which the elections were going to be conducted.
Cited on their court documents as respondents were the Minister, the Attorney General, BaMangwato Tribal Authority and Lesenepole representative Gaotlhobogwe Mosebi.
The applicants represented by attorney Mpho Garebatho argued that the respondents had disregarded them and went ahead in agreeing to choose a date for naming of the village despite their dissatisfaction.
“In his address the Minister stated that all persons residing in the two villages were to participate in the elections, this would mean that, as subsequently explained even persons who do not regard Matolwane as their home are eligible to vote, including foreign nationals and consequently our right to self determination will be violated,” reads the papers.
The applicants further demanded that there should be clear guidelines on the election process so as to enjoy unique right exercised through election held by a transparent and democratic method.
The respondents’ attorney Boineelo Mosweu said that the applicants had previously failed to challenge the court order that was issued in 2006 by Judge Moatlhodi Marumo stating that a name would be chosen through a voting process.
“These applicants are not running show, the court order is clear as to what should transpire and they have failed to challenge the existing order and I implore the court to express its loatheness towards their conduct,” he said.
He further argued that the applicants did not give any evidence to court that measures were not put in place to ensure integrity of the election and that there was no way the court could speculate that no measures were put in place to facilitate the voting process.