Matolwane residents lose to Lesenepole in territorial fight
Mpho Mokwape | Friday November 2, 2018 14:57
The residents recently lost an appeal at the Court of Appeal (CoA) when the bench confirmed that the villages would remain under one common name of Lesenepole, which was voted for by the majority.
The legal war that has been running for over a decade regarding choosing one common name to share as an official name was put to rest by the CoA following an appeal by residents of Matolwane.
Matolwane residents were not happy about an order that was made by the late Justice Moatlhodi Marumo of the High Court where both residents agreed to vote for a common name.
The residents’ contention was that residents of Lesenepole want to be territorial and expect their name to be the one used while an earlier agreement chose Matolwane.
When dismissing the appeal, Justice Isaac Lesetedi said it was an unlikely scenario that the residents were not represented having regard to the Tswana lore and custom that a community would embark on such an exercise without the knowledge of its leaders, especially in a small place.
Lesetedi explained that disputes over village names are topical issues which spread fast and wide even beyond the borders of a concerned village as it is often discussed amongst the village community in any forum.
“I agree with submissions of Lesenelope residents and the High Court that Matolwane residents had known of the decision by Justice Marumo for many years prior to the launching of an application for rescission,” he said.
He said the High Court was right in holding that their conduct acquiesced to the Justice Marumo judgement.
Justice Lesetedi said that even on the assumption that the Marumo judgement was made without the knowledge of the representatives of the three affected villages, with or without the participation of those communities, there were other court proceedings, at which all the residents were represented.
“Even on the assumption, though untenable,that there were other proceedings led by leaders of the at least two of the three villages, it is inconceivable that members of the village would embark on a community interest matter without others knowing,” Lesetedi said.
The order by the CoA settles a long battle of which the two villagers have been fighting.
At the CoA the Matolwane residents had indicated that they were not happy that the order of the High Court did not take into consideration that the Lesenepole residents were numerically superior, and that they will automatically outnumber them during voting.
Further that they were not consulted or cited meaning that they never consented to voting as per Justice Marumo’s judgment.
More so that the court did not consider that not all the applicants or residents of the Matolwane village were aware of the Justice Marumo case. The Lesenepole residents countered that there was no way the appeal could succeed just because Matolwane residents were outnumbered in voting.
They argued that the residents should have raised the issues before the order was made rather than coming back to court.
Pointing out that Lesenepole was voted as a common name after both residents were given notice and were informed about the court order therefore it should remain as such.