Police respect the Chief-Commander Kealotswe

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Monday April 26, 2010 00:00

 

The police boss was reacting to accusations from a Family of God pastor, Godfrey Mbaiwa, who says in a letter carried in the Monitor today that the Mochudi Police did not come to their rescue when Kgosi Kgafela II ordered the closure of their branch.

Two of their pastors were also flogged by a Kgatleng regiment for noise making and disregard of the Kgosi's orders.Asked to confirm if indeed the police failed to protect the church regiment, Kealotswe told The Monitor that indeed the church had come to them asking to be protected from the kgosi and the Bakgatla regiment, a request they turned down.

He said that contrary to some people's assumptions, freedom has its limits.'Freedom e lekanyeditswe. Go na le fa e simologang teng, le fa e emang teng - It starts somewhere and ends somewhere...If a kgosi calls you to a meeting, you are required by the law to comply. Even us the police, wherever we work, we do not disobey the orders of a kgosi. We never pull in different directions. No one has the right to pull in different directions...the kgosi is empowered under Section 7 of our Constitution,' asserted the police boss.

'They may go ahead and register their grievances with the registrar of societies, but as the police here we believe that they are confusing themselves,' the police chief said.'We have a copy of the letter here which indicates that the kgosi called them for a meeting on the 8th and 10th of this month, but the church refused to go and meet with the kgosi,' he added.

He lashed out at the church saying they claimed that the constitution and the Societies Act covered them when the tribal authority asked them to reduce the noise.

'That's where they got it all wrong. They should have complied. No one is exempted from obeying akgosi. Even we the police, when the kgosi calls us, we have to comply. It is the same anywhere in Botswana,and it is not unique to Mochudi,' Kealotswe insisted.'I think we should stop politicising the issue because the kgosi wrote them letters. I'm not sure if they showed you the letters that kgosi wrote them. They were urged to come and meet with the kgosi to discuss their differences and come to an understanding'.

'You cannot play loud music all night disturbing other people just because we are a democracy. It has to be balanced with the expectations of the community,' the station commander said.