- Says the family excluded him from Gaoberekwe burial case
- Claims Advocate Sidney Pilane sought guidance from him
- Says he is a close relative of the deceased
TEFO PHEAGE
Renowned BaSarwa activist Roy Sesana says the family of a deceased man who are being prevented from burying him in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) long sidelined him from the case that has been before the courts. The body of Pitseng Gaoberekwe is still lying in a morgue after he died in December 2021.
“They dumped me along the way.”
Sesana blames the family, especially the son of the deceased, Lesiame, for thinking that “he can fight the government alone”. “I tried my level best to guide and support the deceased’s family who are also my close relatives,” Sesana told The Botswana Gazette in an interview. “But they dumped me along the way, labelling me an uneducated man who sold out BaSarwa.”
He said he was subsequently excluded from many family burial ceremonies: “I think my greatest sin was trying to guide the family along a route that I believed would produce a desirable outcome,” he claimed.
But Sesana corroborates the family’s authenticity of the CKGR as their home. “Pitseng Gaoberekwe’s parents lived in the CKGR and were buried in the CKGR,” he said.
Despite the family “shunning” his advice, Sesana claimed that the government’s legal representative in the case, Advocate Sydney Pilane, consulted him about some issues relating to the deceased and the case.
Meanwhile, the family recently disclosed that the Registrar of the High Court had written to their lawyer, Nelson Ramaotwana, requiring them to pay P16,500 as security for costs and typing of records in order for them to be able to appeal the case.
No substance
Efforts to contact Ramaotwana proved futile at the time of going to press. The position of the state in the matter is that all the claims made by the family lack substance and evidence, arguing the only evidence available is that the deceased had been living in New Xade since 1997.