KDC Chair asks Khama to intervene

LERATO MALEKE
Correspondent | Tuesday August 21, 2012 00:00

Addressing a full council meeting which started yesterday, Mooketsi applauded President Ian Khama and his cabinet ministers for his recent visits around the district, which he said were informative and interactive.'Even though his Kgatleng West constituency Kgotla meetings and his cabinet meeting with councillors arrived a bit late, we are delighted that his visits brought relief, joy and peace of mind to us Bakgatla who still have a lot of unanswered questions, particularly related to the situation of our bogosi,'he said.

Mooketsi said he indicated to Khama during his recent visit that bogosi is the head of a tribe, 'which, if not well the whole morafe is also unwell.'However, Mooketsi who is also the president of Botswana National Front Youth League says he takes solace in the President’s expressed assurance that his government has never been at war with Bakgatla over anything.At the last full council meeting, Mooketsi appealed to Khama to intervene in the on-going bogosi impasse and government. Khama, however did not say anything when he addressed the full council meeting until in a closed-door session he had with the councillors.

According to a BDP insider, the KDC councillors in their closed door meeting presented Khama with a document detailing their complaints on a number of issues and it emerged that the bogosi issue was at the top of the agenda.Khama is said to have told the councillors that his government does not have a grudge with Kgosi Kgolo Kgafela II. Further he is reported to have told them that it may be that Kgafela is the one who has a problem with government, 'Maybe he is the one who has a problem with the government,'said Khama at the meeting.Meanwhile Mooketsi  said he is hopeful  that relations between bogosi and the government will improve for the mutual benefit of all : “This calls upon us as the political and spiritual leaders of this district, together with Kgosi and bo-rrangwanaa Kgosi to rise to the occasion and make sure that good relations are indeed restored,” he said.

Following Khama's Kgotla and cabinet-council meetings, there have been follow-up visits by three ministers; Lebonaamang Mokalalake of Lands and Housing, the Presidential Affairs and Public Administration’s Mokgweetsi Masisi, and Transport and Communications’ Nonofo Molefhi, on issues and projects pertaining to their respective ministries: 'It is therefore my wish that His Excellency would continue with his cabinet-council meeting initiative and also honour his recently postponed kgotla meetings in Bokaa, Oodi and Modipane very soon, ' he said.At his last Kgotla meeting in Mochudi, the Bakgatla royal Kgafela Kgafela II, informed the tribe that he had sent Mooketsi as the KDC chairman to go and consult with Kgatleng Land Board (KLB) concerning the Bakgatla land that he said KLB was denying Bakgatla.