Kgafela challenges the validity of Botswana's constitution

Bakgatla Paramount Chief Kgafela Kgafela filed the initial petition in October as an exception to an ongoing criminal matter against him and 13 others, currently before the Village Magistrate's Court.  In the exception Kgafela is challenging the legal authority of the government to prosecute him. Kgafela has argued that the constitution, from which government's very existence, together with that of the court flows, lacks legitimacy. He says this is because it was written without input from Batswana and also violates God's standard, which calls for people to follow the law of their forefathers, chief among whose tenets is respect for dikgosi.

As evidence Kgafela will present a 1965 letter written by dikgosi of Balete, Bakgatla, Bangwaketse and Batlokwa wherein they complained about lack of consultation in the drafting of the constitution.  Their complaints though were unheeded by then Prime Minister Seretse Khama and his right-hand man Ketumile Masire, both of whom later became presidents of the Republic of Botswana, he said.