DK warns Deputy Speaker Moatlhodi

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Friday March 26, 2010 00:00

The argument was on how Parliament proceedings should proceed after Moatlhodi ordered MPs to rush over the Magistrate's Amendment Bill to save time to cover other government bills waiting to be debated.

With a coarse loud voice, Kwelagobe stood on a point of order, expressing concern at the manner in which Parliament proceedings were conducted in recent days.

He stated that MPs should not be made to rubber-stamp bills just to cover a lot of them and that they could always be deferred to another parliamentary meeting if they were not covered. However, the Deputy Speaker 'defended' himself saying he was saying that MPs should save time and deliver more.

Meanwhile, MPs held different views on whether attorneys should be allowed to represent suspects in stock theft cases and whether they should only be held at customary courts.

While Lobatse MP Nehemiah Modubule insisted that it would be unconstitutional not allow legal representation in any trial, Patrick Masimilole of Mogoditshane held that a thief is a thief.

The latter said that anybody who is caught in possession of cattle that is not his is a thief, and that's how it is in Setswana tradition. However, Modubule said that the Constitution of the country states that any person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

On Masimolole's side was Kgatleng East MP Isaac Mabiletsa who said that cattle thieves are so clever that they apply delaying tactics to kill evidence critical in those cases.

Modubule said that courts should acquire modern technology to keep colours that could be easily interpreted in court. All the MPs welcomed the introduction of assessors in stock theft cases but Masimolole said such cases should not be solved outside court.

Meanwhile, Kweneng East South MP Mmoloki Raletobana said government should utilise available technology to trace the origin of beef in butcheries and that the bolus should be returned to government within prescribed time.

He said that assessors or interpreters of cattle colours and markings to be appointed to courts in their districts of origin because interpretation varies per district.

He called on government to introduce compulsory marking of livestock.