Kgafela pleads for constitutional reform

GREG KELEBONYE
Staff Writer | Monday November 8, 2010 00:00

 

Kgafela said the current constitution, borrowed from the colonial masters, fails to appreciate the Setswana way of life and has brought much disunity and hatred among Batswana.

'Tribal leaders who try to take their people back to the Setswana way of life, which espouses such virtues as love and truth, find themselves at odds with this system,' he said.

Kgafela, who premised his speech on a call to truth and love said that his people needed to appreciate that people who participated in his remand were only doing their job, as expected by the constitution. He urged his tribe to forgive the people, many of whom are friends of the Bakgatla.  He said the tribe could rest assured in the knowledge that the truth shall always prevail.

'We need to speak the truth always. If you see untruth being told, do not keep quite, for if you do, you are also a partaker in it. Evil, it is said, thrives where the good man keeps silent,' he said. Kgafela implored his people to strive for peace and unity, not only among Bakgatla, but also across the nation.

Kgafela cautioned his people not to allow bitterness and hatred, as that would only cause them to lose focus of the battle at hand, which is to peacefully campaign for a constitution that respects the Setswana way of life. That, he said, must be done with love and truthfully.

'We shall say we have won the battle the day our constitution is written in our language where we follow our traditional way of life, unfettered by colonialism,' the Bakgatla kgosi proposed.

Colonialism he said, denies people their identity, their language and culture. For as long as the constitution remains in its current form, lawlessness should be expected as people will continue to ignore or disrespect authority duly given by God. 'When God's word says respect your father and mother, colonialism says 'you have rights'. When the Bible says: 'I have set before you Kings', colonialism says:  'A king is nothing, you can jail him'. For as long the nation remains shackled in the chains of colonialism, it will be divided, he said. Until Friday last week, Regional Magistrate Barnabas Nyamadzabo ordered that Kgafela, his brother Mmusi, Sekai and 11 of their subjects be held in prison.

The order followed an application by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions who argued that Kgafela, his brother and Sekai continued to carry out/or allow illegal floggings in the Kgatleng Administrative District even when the courts are yet to decide on similar charges brought against them.  The monarchs were reluctant to stop the floggings or instruct their subjects to stop, so the DPP applied for their remand or conditional bail.

However, after an appeal to the High Court and an apparent change of heart by the monarchs, Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo allowed them bail.  They will appear again on Wednesday.