- Says authorities refused to grant her use of venue
- Kgosi Kgolo must be supported – Moitoi
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) for Serowe South, Pelonomi Venson Moitoi, says she has decided to suspend her plans for another Serowe meeting indefinitely after authorities refused to grant her access to use the facility.
Moitoi was due to have her second Serowe meeting earlier this month but was forced to postpone the gathering. Reports suggested that the custodians of the Lady Khama Community Hall had been instructed not to allow Moitoi to hold the meeting on their premises.
Those who had attempted to attend the meeting were left stranded outside the community hall. The former minister of local government says she was given the excuse that the venue would be booked for more than a week. Organisers of the meeting told Moitoi’s sympathizers that a new date for the meeting would be communicated in due course.
“We have decided to suspend the meeting indefinitely because we have not been able to get a venue,” she told the Botswana Gazette in a recent interview. “They have not said so but we can see that they are refusing with the facility. So we have no choice but to suspend the meeting indefinitely.”
Her remarks come just a few days after this publication reported last Friday that former president Ian Khama’s meeting in Serowe almost failed to secure a venue for the meeting after the police tried to deny them entry to Serowe Showgrounds. A scuffle ensued until the organisers threatened to engage lawyers. In his address Khama said they were granted use of the venue under strict conditions but did not elaborate.
Though the former cabinet minister, Moitoi was not present at the meeting, her husband Prince Moitoi was one of organisers of Khama’s meeting. Asked if his wife was also part of those backing the formation of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), he responded: “She was not present because of other commitments, but whether she is joining the new party or not, that’s her decision to make. It is our responsibility to support our Kgosi-kgolo (Khama). Whenever he calls us, we have to heed to his call. ”