'Batswana Have Been Thirsty For A First Lady'
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday February 17, 2020 15:05
He said this had led to legislators also being proud to show off their spouses inspiring communities to value marriage.
Morwaeng was delivering a vote of thanks on Valentine’s Day at the Molepolole Bus Rank where the Botswana Police Service hosted Pitso ya Borre campaign against gender-based violence (GBV).
The campaign, where First Lady Neo Masisi was a keynote speaker, was held under the theme ‘Ending Gender-Based Violence Starts With Me’.
“You heard Pastor Keimetswe mistakenly say Mme Mma Masire instead of Mma Atsile or Mme Mma Masisi. It shows you that we have been thirsty from not having a First Lady drought. We were so wishful as you can see people saying Mma Masire. It means she is the one they know; others will say Mma Nametso or Lady Ruth Khama. Truth is we have been thirsty and my 13-year-old last-born child does not know what is meant by First Lady,” he said.
Morwaeng thanked God for Mma Atsile stating that now children would grow up like they did knowing there is a mother of the nation in the mould of the First Lady.
“We thank President Masisi for bringing us a mother. As Members of Parliament, we are very lucky, our wives are also lucky as there is where they can seek help. Nowadays you can see legislators with their wives and we are very lucky. We thank President Masisi and Mma Atsile for this,” he said.
The Molepolole South legislator said it is because of President Masisi continuing where former presidents had left off that legislators are proud to show off their wives. He said nowadays when a legislator is spotted without his wife, people question as to where she was.
“This is what builds us as a nation. You can always approach our wives if we do not deliver in office. We thank Mma Atsile for her leadership acumen. That is why you see me here with my wife. Happy families are the solution to GBV. If children in our homes see us live happily, they will also live in peace with their peers,” he said.
Some saw Morwaeng as taking a jab at the immediate former president Ian Khama. The country’s last First Lady before Mma Atsile was Barbara Mogae, wife of former president Festus Mogae who made way for Khama in 2008. Khama walked into office and left in 2018 a bachelor.