"Some Councillors fainted on hearing the news"

South East District Council on Tuesday adjourned its business of the day to mourn its former chairperson Same Bathobakae.

Bathobakae, an Umbrella for Democratic Change Member of Parliament for Tlokweng died on Monday at her house in Tlokweng. South East District Councillors were scheduled to respond to council Chairman Phenyo Segokgo’s speech, which was delivered on Monday.

Segokgo confirmed the adjournment in an interview with The Midweek Sun. He said the situation was unbearable when debates were scheduled to resume on Tuesday morning. “Councillors were emotional and some of the council staff were even fainting after hearing the news. So, we decided we should adjourn council seating so as to allow the councillors and staff to grief because apart from being one of our MPs in the district, she was a leader at the same council,” he stated.

He explained that Bathobakae served the council well during her 10-year political life as a councillor from 2004 to 2014. She also served as Council Chairperson between 2007 and 2009. Segokgo said the council leadership would not want to say much now, as they want to allow the family and friends to grief.

He said they are prepared to lend any support to the family. Bathobakae is former Botswana National Front Vice President. She was also the only opposition female politician who won elections in 2014 for the Parliamentary seat. Her daughter and two grandchildren survive her.

Family spokesperson, Puso Phetwe confirmed the passing on of Bathobakae. He stated that they cannot ascertain when she died but they discovered that she is no more on Monday afternoon. “We cannot say for sure when she died because we last spoke to her on Sunday.

We could not get hold of her on Monday and only to find out that she is no more,” explained Phetwe saying the family is still working on a number of issues regarding the funeral.