Upgrading Magapatona will cause anarchy - state
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday August 16, 2019 15:13
This emerged at the High Court this week when 341 applicants led by Edward Moabi prayed with the court to declare Magapatona a stand-alone village and not a ward in Tutume contrary to popular belief.
The applicants also want the position of their headman of arbitration to be elevated to headman of records.
They contend that failure to upgrade the position of their Kgosi lowered his stature before other headmen of arbitration in Magapatona who are his subordinates.
According to the applicants, prior and after Independence, they had known that Magapatona was a village while Tutume was just a name of a river.
Giving testimony on behalf of the State, former deputy permanent secretary in the then Ministry of Local Government, Molefhi Keaja said anarchy would arise should the State accede to the requests made by the applicants.
Keaja said to upgrade Magapatona-which the applicants contend is a stand-alone village, and not a ward in Tutume-would require massive financial considerations needed by the headman of records and other support staff to assist the headman to perform his official duties.
When asked by Tholego Monthe from the Attorney General (AG) who represented the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development,
Keaja also stated that Tutume was a village in the Central District (under the Bamangwato Tribal territory) while Magapatona was a ward within Tutume.
He said that during his days at the Ministry of Local Government, no ward within a village was ever commissioned to become a stand-alone village.
Asked by Monthe about the applicants’ request that they wanted to be recognised as a village, Keaja said recognition of villages was subject to Tribal Land Act of 1999.
He prayed with the court not to usurp the powers of the national recognition policy that dealt with upgrading settlements to villages.
He also said that he was not aware of any ward within villages that were given the status of villages.
“If that was the case, it would not be in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Local Government,” said Keaja responding to Monthe’s question.
When cross-examined by the attorney of the applicants, Tshekiso
Tshekiso, Keaja said that he was not aware of the history of Tutume and how it was established.
In the same breath, Keaja added that he was not privy to the history of villages such as Matobo, Goshwe and others, which are in the vicinity of Tutume.
When Tshekiso asked Keaja if he knew that Goshwe was once a ward in Tutume but was later upgraded to a stand-alone village status, Keaja said that he did not know about the issue.
Tshekiso asked Keaja if he knew that there was a village called Makuta near Tutume, Keaja said he was just aware of such a village by but he was not aware that it was once a ward in Nswazwi.
Keaja further said: “I am however, not aware that Makuta was recognised as a stand-alone village in 2014. I am not sure when the people of Makuta requested to be recognised as village but I think it was in 2012 or 2013.”
When Tshekiso put it to Keaja that there was no anarchy after Makuta was upgraded to a village and after the position of Makuta headman was upgraded from headman of arbitration to headman of records, Keaja answered: “There was no anarchy because Makuta was all along a stand-alone village. The same applies to the village of Matobo because Matobo was a stand-alone village from Tutume.”
Asked by Tshekiso if he was aware that the people of Magapatona had made a request to be recognised as a village, Keaja answered: “I am not aware of that request. I am aware that they requested their headman of arbitration to be upgraded to the position of headman of records.”
Tshekiso then asked Keaja if the position of headman of arbitration could be elevated to headman of records without upgrading the area.
Keaja responded thus: “I have indicated that for that to happen, the first thing is to recognise the place as a standalone village before any consideration of chieftainship can be looked at. This is with respect to stand-alone villages only.”
Keaja stuck to his guns when Tshekiso told him of other wards within villages that were later granted the status of stand-alone villages but there was no anarchy as Keaja had said.
Keaja added that although he started working at the Ministry of Local Government in 2009, he was aware of processes and procedures that were considered for settlements to be upgraded to status of stand-alone villages.
Quizzed by Tshekiso if the processes and procedures he was talking about were documented, Keaja said some of the processes and procedures were in writing while others were not.
Asked further if the processes and procedures owed their origin to any statute, Keaja said some derived their existence from the Customary Court Act that was passed by Parliament.
When Tshekiso asked Keaja if government has ever undertaken an assessment to recognise Magapatona as a village, Keaja answered in the negative.
He said: “The assessment to upgrade Magapatona from a ward to a village was never made because of the understanding that Magapatona was a ward within the village of Tutume… I have said that the people of Magapatona want to secede from Tutume. If they want to secede they can follow some procedures but that would be an exercise in futility because Magapatona is a ward within Tutume.”
Tshekiso then asked Keaja to concentrate on the letter that he (Keaja) authored. The letter talked about impediments that prevented Magapatona from being upgraded to a standalone village.
Tshekiso then put it to Keaja that according to the letter, the only impediment that can prevent Magapatona from becoming a village was financial considerations and nothing else, to which Keaja agreed.
Keaja also conceded that according to the letter, the issue of upgrading Magapatona to a village was to be revisited when the financial situation improved.
When Tshekiso told Keaja to remember that he said that it was impossible to upgrade Magapatona because Magapatona was a ward within Tutume, and asked him how possible was it to revisit something that can’t happen, Keaja said that issue could happen or be revisited at the Tutume main kgotla to see if more workers can be hired for the new headman of records finances permitting.
Tshekiso then said he put it to Keaja that he (Keaja) brought that element because he was caught between a rock and hard place since his letter never mentioned, that which prompted Keaja to reiterate that Magapatona will always remain a ward in Tutume.
Keaja also agreed that the position of Magapatona headman of arbitration can be upgraded but will always remain under the control of authorities at the Tutume main kgotla.
Justice Bengbame Sechele adjourned the matter to December 5 in order for the State’s last witness to give evidence.