Mzwinila Leaves Maele with Egg on Face

  • Mzwinila reinstates Landboard officials fired by Maele
  • Maele had already replaced them before Masisi dropped him
  • Mzwinila to apologise to Batawana

SONNY SERITE

As if being dropped from Cabinet by President Mokgweetsi Masisi was not humiliating enough, former Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Prince Maele has suffered further embarrassment as his successor, Michael Mzwinila, wasted no time in reversing some of the decisions he made on the eve of his departure from the ministry.
This publication has it on good authority that Minister Mzwinila held a meeting at his office on Friday with the four Tawana Landboard Board Members who were sacked by Maele and informed them of his decision to reinstate them. The beleagued former minister dismissed the board members on 29th March, just three days before he too was stripped of his ministerial post by the newly inaugurated president Masisi. In his letters of termination, Maele had informed the affected Land Board officials that he had formed the view that their conduct, on balance of probabilities, rendered them unfit to continue as members of the Tawana Land Board.
The four Board members, namely Tebogo Boalotswe, Onkgomoditse Gabakakanngwe, Selinah Phorano and Mpho Mothoka maintained their innocence throughout and insisted that they were being victimized for taking a bold stance against Maele’s intentions to allocate land to British billionaire Sir Richard Branson without following laid down procedures.
Following the dismissal of the quartet, a Kgotla meeting was called and the morafe unanimously agreed to support them and lobby for their reinstatement. It was agreed at the Maun main Kgotla that they should be supported financially and emotionally and that a delegation must be sent to the newly appointed minister to plead for their unconditional reinstatement.
Mzwinila acted swiftly and never waited to be petitioned and on 25th April, his permanent secretary instructed Tawana Landboard  Board Secretary to arrange and pay for travel and accommodation expenses for the aggrieved Land Board officials to enable them to meet the minister in Gaborone on the 27th April (last week Friday).
Before he met and reinstated the four officials,  minister Mzwinila first met with the three who were appointed by Maele as replacements and told them the bad news that he had revoked their appointment. Maele had appointed Seboba Matenanga, Rangusa Sauxho, Namane Kauheva and another (name known to this publication) who allegedly declined Maele’s offer because he already had gainful employment somewhere.
Reached for comment, the four reinstated officials could only confirm their restatement but refused to get into details of their meeting with minister Mzwinila as he has asked them to take it easy and allow him to address Batawana on the issue. Mzwinila’s phone rang unanswered several times on Monday.