Villagers accuse Tsogwane of sleeping on the job

Some residents of Nata village have expressed grave concern at the manner in which their chieftainship issue was handled by the current Vice President Slumber Tsogwane who was the Minister for Local Government before handing over to Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi.

Scores of those interviewed over the weekend say Tsogwane was a clueless and useless individual who failed to come to their rescue whilst a full minister before he was elevated to Vice Presidency by President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Although they have accepted that their Senior Tribal Authority Letsogo Kgaswa was imposed on them by the Bamangwato authority, they will not rest until such conduct by government authorities is brought to an end. Since Botswana is a democratic state, residents strongly believe that they should have been allowed to elect their leader like it is the case with many other villages whose chieftainship is not hereditary. Following the appointment of Kgaswa as their leader against their will, they forwarded a petition to Tsogwane’s office but are yet to receive a response.

They have since placed their hopes on the new minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi to rectify this. They generally feel that Tsogwane took their issues lightly, adding that he left his ministry while still having a pending matter of appointing a headman of arbitration. “So far villagers have submitted names of 12 candidates to be considered by the minister whilst Tsogwane was still in charge only for him to make an exit without any feedback whatsoever, pertaining to our petition and submissions of those they want to elect as their leaders.

“What was more disturbing before their nomination is that they were grilled in an interview, a system which residents have since dismissed as undemocratic,” said village representative Bob Zibani Galethata who made the entourage to Gaborone to hand over the petition.