Cock transplant
Friday, June 20, 2014
You will recall, dear reader with the memory of an African elephant, that our friend Chicken had to undergo a very painful operation not so long ago. This operation was of a surgical variety where he had to have one part of his personality and very character removed and replaced by another. Yes, our friend and beloved brother had to undergo a name transplant.
It was by all accounts a very traumatic experience. And understandably so because as you know, he had lived with the name Chicken since he was young. If fact, if memory serves me well, he actually came with that name from the township of Soweto into Botswana as an economic refugee in the late seventies. The story goes that he was required to fill out some official forms by the authorities when he first arrived here. He got to the part where he had to declare his profession whereupon he wrote “chicken killer.” The officer on duty was concerned by this strange declaration and thought he set the record straight since these were after all official government documents that needed to be accurate and precise.
While it is widely acknowledged that Khama holds the title of Kgosi, the government’s failure to properly gazette his recognition has raised serious concerns about adherence to legal procedures and the credibility of traditional leadership. (See a story elsewhere in this newspaper.) Recent court documents by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Kgotla Autlwetse, shed light on the intricacies of Khama’s recognition process....