Muzila admonishes errant councilors
Ryder Gabathuse | Thursday July 7, 2016 16:31
Muzila took a swipe at her colleagues who initially could not form a quorum at a special full council meeting, which was scheduled to start at 09:00 hours, but had to be delayed to accommodate more councillors to attend the meeting.
Prior to the commencement of the meeting, the outgoing town clerk, Leboile Israel had to make an announcement that the meeting would run a little late because the councillors were not forming a quorum.
Israel’s announcement was met with loud protests from some of the councillors who had made it on time.
Muzila was probably irked by the fact that nearly half of the 24 councillors were not in attendance at the special full council and had given flimsy reasons for their absence.
Nominated councillor, Andy Boatile had claimed that he had not received the invitation for the meeting as the reason why he was not in attendance. As for Uyapo Nyeku, his excuse was that he away on social commitments whilst Baboni Mosalagae had taken her mother to a local hospital for medical attention.
Others gave varying excuses including one apology sent for lateness.
It was then that Muzila stated: “Dikgang tse o ga ke di batle (I don’t entertain the reasons for the councillors’ absence from the council.)”
She accepted without question the apologies from councillors, Lesego Kwambala, James Kgalajwe and Peter Ngoma, who were attending the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) workshop in Mahalapye.
Muzila then warned errant councillors to take the business of the House seriously. She said it was at meetings of this nature that important decisions that have far reaching effects on the lives of the constituents were made.
“We will have to go back to the drawing board and inform ourselves on the importance of the business of the house as civic leaders and know our roles,” emphasised Muzila sternly.
From her statement, it seemed inevitable that Muzila would remain true to her word and grilled the errant civic leaders at a later stage.
It was at this stage that some councillors made late appearances into the council chamber whilst the topic was still on their non-committal to the business of the House. While addressing her colleagues, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) civic leader, Ephraim Maiketso asked the mayor about the whereabouts of the beleaguered deputy mayor, Lechedzani Modenga.
Instead of councillors patiently waiting for an answer, the whole House was thrown into a fit of laughter.
After calling for order in the House Muzila quickly disposed of the question saying: “I don’t have his apology just like other councillors who have not apologised to me or anybody else”.
Muzila said: “When someone is not in the House and has not tendered any apology, such a person is absent without leave or simply AWOL”. Maiketso reminded the House that it has been some time since Modenga went AWOL, which he said did not augur well for the image of the council. Modenga and some council staff were recently arrested and interrogated by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime investigators on suspicion of selling Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) plots illegally for their personal gain.