Opposition councillors walk out on Khama

ONALENNA MODIKWA &
BAME PIET
Staff Writers | Wednesday September 22, 2010 00:00

 

This happened after councillor Modisakgotla Makwati suggested that the meeting be moved to committee stage. Though opposition councillor Israel Jesi countered the move, officers, press and members of the public were asked to leave the chamber and the council chairman Lesego Raditanka emphasised that it was a normal arrangement for the meeting to be moved to committee stage. Out of the 38 opposition councillors in the CDC six of them walked out, while others reportedly reneged on an initial agreement. Councillors who walked out are Israel Jesi of Nkange North ward, Lemme Kgopa of Tonota West ward, Mogomotsi Lemogang of Sebina South ward, Kagiso Tshwene, Matshwenyego Shaka of Mopipi ward and Bobby Babusi from Shoshong.

Reports are that opposition councillors had caucused the previous night and unanimously agreed to walk out of the meeting, refuse to sign for sitting allowances for that day, reject any lunch offer and even refuse to pose for pictures with the president and the cabinet.

While the meeting continued inside the chamber the six councillors stood outside chatting as they waited for the delegation to finish. During an interview they indicated that their ruling party counterparts defied standing order 61 by reducing the meeting to the committee stage. They said since this was done, even the cabinet and the President himself should also have been excluded from the meeting. 'We cannot strategise with the ruling party. Even the presentation is not the one we endorsed at committee meetings. We purely talked about policies not Serowe projects. The chairman could have read the standing order so that the cabinet itself could know why we were walking out. We cannot sit there to entertain and endorse Serowe projects that are not as important as the ones we need in our wards,' they said.

The standing order in question says that 'the council or sub council may by majority vote resolve itself into a committee of the whole council for the due consideration of any matter, such a vote shall be deemed a vote excluding the press and the public from the meeting and the chairperson shall therefore call upon the press and the public to leave the meeting.'

Councilors further said they do not know the structure at which the meeting was held and said the cabinet and the President are not members of any council committee therefore the meeting could have been left open like other council sessions.

'What are we going to tell our electorates if we agree to strategise with ruling party councilors in closed sessions. We did not come here to caucus and rubber stamp BDP decisions but to represent the interests of our electorates.'

They complained that projects like connecting water in Boteti and at Tonota hospital have been deferred under excuses of economic recession but expressed surprise that Serowe is talking about a second police station and they are expected to ululate.

Kgopa confirmed that they had indeed held a caucus the night before and accused the others of having remained in the meeting because they wanted to have lunch with the cabinet. We would rather sacrifice our allowances for the day and go elsewhere to grab something to eat just for the sake of our electorates. We also would rather go and pose in front of our projects in our respective wards than to entertain pictures with the cabinet while our people are suffering as a result of unfair treatment that we continue to receive from the CDC,' he said.  The councilors had however said they would continue with the ongoing full council meeting after the ministers and the president had left.

Meanwhile, Council Chairman Lesego Raditanka said he did not know why the councillors walked out because during the preparations for Khama's visit, it was agreed that normal procedure should be followed - that the public should only attend the official opening. 'None of them complained or opposed the suggestion that the public should not attend the committee stage. We just saw them walk out without stating any reasons,' Raditanka said yesterday. 

The CDC has a total of 174 councillors with 38 belonging to the opposition. He said that even their colleagues in the opposition were surprised at the walkout saying they did not know what it was intended to achieve.