Minister Autlwetse reported to VP over Tumasera saga
The unhappy people of Tupya, Malete and Rasesa in the Tswapong area are calling for the intervention of the country's Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane in the raging war over the disbanded name of their village, Tumasera.
On the 16 of June 2023, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kgotla Autlwetse visited ‘Tumasera’ residents to tell them that they can no longer refer themselves to as people of Tumasera.
He told them that there is no village called ‘Tumasera,’ and that the name should be used for purposes of identifying the main kgotla only.
He explained that Tumasera was an acronym that came about when the four villages of Tupya, Malete, Seleka and Rasesa came together for purposes of jointly enjoying developments that government would bring to their area. The acronym is made up of the first two letters of the four villages' names.
However, with time, it became evident that people started addressing the four villages as one - Tumasera was used to refer to a village while Tupya, Malete, Seleka and Rasesa were reduced to being just wards of Tumasera village.
This did not sit well with Seleka people and they went to court asking that they be allowed to identify as a village and not a ward.
In his ruling of 1995, Judge Gyeke-Dako agreed with Seleka residents saying they should not be forced to identify as Tumasera when they are not comfortable with the name.
Feeling that Seleka was the odd one out, the three villages continued with their intentions of a merger, firmly believing it was a good thing to do.
However, sometime this year, Kgosi Sesa Maleele of Rasesa wrote to authorities saying they want out of the Tumasera village name.
When speaking to this publication at the time, Maleele said they have realised that they made a huge mistake by agreeing to be merged and labelled a ward instead of a village.
Before he could receive a response on the matter, Autlwetse arrived at Tumasera kgotla dismantling the merger and telling villagers of the merged three villages that they are now being recognised as villages and not wards.
It is the minister’s announcement that has led to an uproar and confusion in Tumasera hence the call for Tsogwane to intervene.
In a letter which The Midweek Sun has seen, the residents say they are not happy with what Autlwetse did in June.
“We do not believe it was right for Autlwetse to disband Tumasera village because we have allowed Seleka to go as they wished. We then made efforts to find out if it would be wrong to continue calling ourselves Tumasera and we were
advised that nothing was stopping us from identifying as Tumasera even without Seleka being part of us,” the letter reads.
Also the letter suggests that the decision to allow them to freely use the name Tumasera was taken in 1997 and nobody objected to it.
“With that, we do not believe the minister was right to dismantle Tumasera that easily, he was even oppressive not wanting us to ask him any questions,” the letter says.
The letter has been signed by 25 people from the affected three villages of Tupya, Malete and Rasesa.
Basiame Kolagano who identified himself as a Rasesa resident produced a letter showing how their superordinate - Serowe Tribal Authority - confirmed that as of the 14th November 1997, the three villages merged and named themselves Tumasera while the three names will be known as wards.
“Tumasera is now an official name and all matters relating to the former three villages referred to above should be addressed as Tumasera," the document reads.
When contacted Tsogwane said he had not received the said letter.
“I know nothing about the letter, I have not seen it, maybe they delivered it to my secretary but I have not seen it yet,” the Vice President said, adding that he had thought the relevant ministry of local government had dealt with the matter.