Similarly, they left the principal town of Bakgatla in the afternoon with nothing much to write home about. Siele's purpose had been to inform the tribe about the recent decision by government to de-recognise and suspend Kgosi Kgafela Kgafela from performing official duties as stipulated in the Bogosi Act.
However, the tribe was not prepared to listen to what Siele and his delegation had to say. And they told them as much. First up was Kgosi Bana Sekai Linchwe, who is under suspension at least until his others' trial for flogging has been concluded. He stated that they had tried on many occasions to meet with government officials, including President Ian Khama and Vice-President Mompati Merafhe. Kgosi Sekai specified the dates for which appointments were set for meetings, only for the VP to stand them up on grounds of health. He said prior to the Vision 2016 celebrations in Mmathubudukwane, staff of the Vision Council and some government officials had tried to set meetings with them, but only a few of them materialised, while others were postponed. All these appointments, Kgosi Sekai said, were communicated to him while he was on suspension and he wondered why government officials wanted to engage him on official duties. He said he often felt tempted to choose a bar for some of the appointments, or just any place other than the Kgotla because the government had suspended him from performing official duties. Kgosi Sekai said in his interactions with the officials, he learned that there was confusion regarding how the decision to suspend him and others was reached or who made it. Merafhe had made it clear that no minister should interfere in matters of bogosi and that no Kgosi should meddle in government business. But Kgosi Sekai was shocked to find that Merafhe actually called some influential Bakgatla, among them Ray Molomo, Monty Letshwiti, Mpho Moruakgomo and Bishop Kole to inform them that government intended to take action within three weeks.
