Selebi-Phikwe Town council introduces chief whips

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Friday June 4, 2010 00:00

He said as the leadership of this town, they have bound themselves to the highest discipline and order. He mentioned that they have chosen Tshiamo Ikaneng to be the BDP chief whip and Molefe Molathegi for the BCP. 

He explained that the role of the chief whips is to control the councillors. 'As you might be aware, there was anarchy at the Francistown City Council and the city mayor had a tough time controlling his councillors and we cannot condone such a situation in our council. We cannot have a situation whereby councillors say whatever they want and even go to the extent of disrespecting each other in the council chamber.  As councillors we must show maturity and the only way we can do that is to have control measures that we have set ourselves,' he said.

Mukokomani said the introduction of chief whips was agreed on by councillors and it was not imposed on them. He noted that he would not have made the announcement if they did not agree to it.

He mentioned that the council must be respected just like the National Parliament. 'Residents must view the council as their Parliament and they must show it the respect it deserves. Councillors must be role models for the community,' he noted.

He says if there is respect, then the local authority will be run smoothly. He mentioned that the council standing order must also have a provision that will include chief whips. Ikaneng of the BDP told Mmegi in an interview this week that they must be given powers by the standing order which can enable them to discipline councillors if they do not want to abide by the set rules.

'At the moment we do not have powers invested in us by the council standing order, so we might have difficulties in some instances when we want to do our job. We are tasked to control how councillors dress and their punctuality to meetings, among others. Our tasks are vast but I guess with the support from our colleagues, we will succeed,' he said.  Ikaneng said Mukokomani came up with the idea and they welcomed it because they realised that it is important.

He mentioned that when the North East District councillors were in Selebi-Phikwe for bench-marking last week, they liked the idea and commended the council for it. Ikaneng said during the 2004-09 council seating, the only person who was always reminding councillors of the standing order was the former Leseding councillor, Gaone Chamme. He noted that this shows that whips should have been introduced a long time back.BCP whip, Molathegi said they have been tasked to make sure that councillors attend all meetings and that all apologies from those who are absent should be sent to them.

He mentioned that they want to avoid situations that they came across before when some meetings could not  proceed due to the absence of some councillors. 'We should make sure that councillors understand the difference between opinions and facts when they debate during meetings.

They must address issues the way they have agreed during their party caucuses,' he said. Molathegi said they also want to avoid the situation that gripped the council a few months back during the mayoral elections when a party caucus agreement was not followed.

He said it is important for BCP councillors to behave well because their party is about to take over the government from the ruling BDP