'BCP is against Mochudi floggings'

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Tuesday May 18, 2010 00:00

 

Addressing the launch of the new BCP at the White City freedom square on Saturday, the party's vice president, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang, said they do not condone the prevailing situation in Kgatleng.

Gobotswang described the BCP as a champion of human rights. He said Kgosi Kgafela II of Bakgatla should be held accountable for the prevailing situation in Kgatleng, especially since the chief is a human rights activist.

The BCP official said not long ago, Kgosi Kgafela II  had called them to a meeting to discuss extra judicial killings at which a new pressure group, Citizens for Justice, was formed. Inspite of this, he said, people in Kgatleng are punished before they are tried in a court of law.

In a thinly-veiled reference to the mephato who do Kgosi Kgafela's bidding in Kgatleng, Dr Gobotswang spoke of a Kgafela Fan Club ,whose members are zealous to the point of taking the law into their own hands. He likened it to what he called the Khama Fan Club which he said is also unleashing terror upon innocent citizens

Meanwhile, the president of the Botswana National Front (BNF), Otsweletse Moupo, has said they have no qualms about the developments in Kgatleng as long as they are within the confines of the law. 

'It would only be a problem if it was against the constitution,' Moupo said in an interview, adding that Kgosi Kgafela's initiatives are welcome as long as they do not violate human rights. 

In his view, there have been positive results from the initiatives and street robberies have reportedly been reduced, due to the patrols by the mephato. However, Moupo said reports that some churches have been banished from Kgatleng are disturbing. BDP spokesman Segaetsho Garekwe said, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), stands by a recent statement made by President Ian Khama on Duma FM in which Khama slammed the floggings in Kgatleng and called on people to report them to the police.

Garekwe said the BDP believes in the rule of law and that suspects should be brought before the courts. Garekwe,who is a trained lawyer, said members of the mephato should not take the law into their hands.

Meanwhile, the Daily News has reported that Kgosi Kgafela II has threatened to close down shebeens in Kgatleng. According to the state-run newspaper, the Bakgatla sovereign made the threats at a Kgotla meeting last Saturday where he also said Chibuku should be sold only from designated depots.