MPHO MATSHEDISO
The Lobatse High Court has postponed a case in which representatives of Mmutlane Village in the Central District are suing the Ministry of Local Government, the Attorney General, and Ketlareng Lekhutlile for interfering in their bogosi affairs.
Justice Modiri Letsididi has set trial for 12 May 2021 because representatives of the respondents provided documents written in Setswana and were unprepared for trial.
The Botswana Gazette is in possession of petition which states that Albert Mogaetsho, Robert Mosetlhe and 51 other village representatives say they want the people of Mmutlane Village to vote for their own chief without interference from government or Serowe. According to the petition the residents of Mmutlane would like to autonomously decide who to lead them without interference from Serowe.
“We would like you to remove Ntshadi Dlodlo from calling herself our Kgosi and she should refrain from calling herself chief of Mmutlane and thus she should not be conducting Kgotla meetings in our village in the pretense she is the chief of the village. Her presence has only caused conflict between residents of Mmutlane,” says the petition.
According to court documents that The Botswana Gazette has a copy of, the cluster through their attorney Ndadi Law firm want the Minister of Local Government to set aside the appointment of Ketlareng Lekhutile or any other person currently appointed as kgosi of Mmutlane. They would like the court to grant them permission to elect their own Kgosi. Moreover, the villagers (Claimants) allege that they do not know how the appointment of Ketlareng Lekhutile as their Kgosi came about as they were never consulted.
Information gathered by The Botswana Gazette reveals that a group of villagers in Mmutlane formed a coup to oust Loomatsoga Gaogane from the chieftaincy. Moreover a section of the villagers in the lowest tribal lineage in the village had gone to Serowe and informed Serogola Lekhutile’s children that they are the rightful heirs to the chieftainship in Mmutlane. It has emerged that the villagers through a Kgotla meeting held on 12 December 2020, the people of Mmutlane cried foul of lack of consultation from government.