Wareus for Khama?

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Monday November 15, 2010 00:00

 

Veteran politician and former cabinet minister, Kebatlamang Morake, set the tone of what would dominate the proceedings at the massive rally the BDP held in the grounds of the Mahalapye Tsholetsa Hall.

The occasion was the party's 'Domi Ke Yame' launch which is a highly ambitious recruitment drive programme.

Although Morake was to officially render a poem on Khama, he preferred to spice it up with a topical issue, popular amongst the Bamangwato tribe, which wants to see the president wedded.

Facing Khama, Morake, who was at the podium shouted a line: 'Naledi Khama rapela ngwana wa ga kgaitsadio wa kgosi a nyale... (Naledi Khama, please could you plead with your brother's son, who is also our chief, to marry).

As if the whole thing was stage managed, Khama would later tell the rally: 'For your information, I want a woman who is tall, slim and good looking'.

This set the rally literally ablaze until the master of ceremonies pleading for order.

He then faced Assistant Minister of Local Government, Botlhogile Tshireletso, who is hefty built and said: 'Ga ke batle yoo tshwanang le yo. Yo o ka palelwa ke go feta fa kgorong ya ntlo, a thuba difurniture ka bokima a bo a roba di shock absorber tsa dikoloi (I don't want one like this one. She may fail to pass through the door, breaking furniture with her heavy weight and even break the vehicles' shock absorbers).'

He then faced Morake and Daniel Kwelagobe and joked: 'You are guilty of ridiculing the President. The best that you should do is to go all out and look for the woman that you prefer for me as I hardly have time to hunt for a woman who will become my wife'..

In fact, Kwelagobe's earlier remark in his response to Morake's request, 'I already have a choice of a woman who fits Khama's choice 100 percent'.

'Just this week, we officially welcomed the reigning Miss World First Princess, Emma Wareus, at the airport for a stint here before she returns to a number of countries where she will serve her term.

'I have no doubt that she could be one of the President's choices,' said Kwelagobe, followed by a deafening sound of approval from the enthusiastic crowd.

When he was given an opportunity to give a vote of thanks, Vice President, Mompati Merafhe, reflected on how his previous attempts to remind President Khama to marry hit a blank.

'I don't think there is anything else that I can do for now because I did my very best during our days at the barracks to remind my boss to marry without success,' said Merafhe, leaving the rally in an irresistible laughter.'Kgang e ya ga Morake le Kwelagobe ga gona fa ke tsenang teng ka e sa le e mplatse ke le kwa dibarrackseng,' he had said in Setswana.

BDP Women's Wing chairperson and a member of the party's central committee, Angelinah Sengalo, saw it strange that her male counterparts in the party could prefer to take the lead in the hunt for the President's choice of a wife.

She was forthright with her choice of Botswana's beauty queen, Wareus. 'As the party's Women's Wing, we shall immediately play a leading role in taking Emma Wareus on board as our choice for First Lady. Just no way, that our male counterparts could be allowed any free role in the hunt for Khama's choice,' she said to jubilations from the crowd.

She further pointed out that this was an issue in which, 'I shall involve party veterans like former cabinet member Gaositwe Chiepe and see what can be done'.

In general terms, whilst President Khama could be having his own choice of a woman, inside the BDP, already Wareus should be crowned the First Lady without any contestation.

The BDP recently sponsored Wareus to contest Miss World pageant in Sanya, China where she did the nation proud and won the hearts of many by coming out as the first princess. Could Wareus be our First Lady?

But, from the attitude of Khama and the thinking within the party, it is not remote that Khama could endorse Wareus, who also fits the President's line of preference.

What is also apparently not in contest is the fact that Khama is clearly in the mood to marry more than ever before.

Khama was previously engaged to Dr Nomsa Mbere whose relationship he declared in a local tabloid interview last week in the past tense: 'I have been. But we are not engaged anymore,' he said about the engagement to Mbere.