Kagiso Buisanyang: These are the names of a man Deputy Kgosi Sekai Linchwe introduced as the new headman of record for Rasesa Village outside Mochudi last November. These are talking names indeed. The first name means peace and the second is a call for talks among the affected. However, despite his names suggesting good things like keeping peace and engaging each other, what is happening at this small village is completely the opposite. The new crop of leaders do not see eye-to-eye with the old crop. They can’t talk to each other. Even an exchange of greetings seems unthinkable.
Instead the dispute over the village’s leadership is now being fought in the courts of law. The new man was introduced to the community on November 23 but less than a month, he was no longer considered the village leader. The court order which removed him from office reads, “Pending the final determination of this matter, Mr. Kagiso Moccury Buisanyang shall not discharge the function of Kgosana of Rasesa Village”. This order is the culmination of “in the matter between” former chief representative for Rasesa, Letshwenyo Rasesa and five others versus the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
Although some people often try to hide their embarrassment, there is no doubt that Kagiso Buisanyang was greatly embarrassed upon hearing the news of him being removed from office. He had been there for just 22 days. If there were files in his office of which he had to familiarize himself with, he would not have finished them when he was slapped with the bad news. It seems the embarrassment was self inflicted. It would have been avoided if people cared to listen to others’ view point. Attorney Motlhala who is representing the applicants, wrote to the attorney general requesting them to advise Kgosi Sekai “not to do anything that will amount to contempt of the court in his meeting” of November 23 where he planned to introduce Kagiso Buisanyang while the matter was still pending before the courts. Whether Sekai was eventually advised or not is unclear. What is clear is that a request by the applicants’ attorney was not heeded to as the deputy kgosi went ahead with his meeting on that day. It became clear on that day that Kagiso was unacceptable to many residents of that tiny village separated from Mochudi by the railway line which runs through its eastern side position.
A fairly large number of residents who attended the meeting walked out in protest leaving Sekai with a small number of Kagiso’s loyalists. Social media quoted Sekai as saying in response to the walk out, “A le a tsamaya kana le dira jang ga gona molato”. He chose not to appeal to the protesters to give him hearing as if he came to the meeting well prepared for confrontation. Perhaps he knew that whatever he was going to say at the meeting was going to be met with opposition from a section of the residents. A Whatsapp message which strayed into my phone was clear that he was unwelcomed to some.
It reads, “Kgosi Sekai will be at the Rasesa Kgotla on the 23 of this month in connection with appointment of the Kgosi he himself has chosen”. Although Sekai pretended not to be bordered by the protest, he was greatly embarrassed. Within Batswana societies, it is very rare for protests to be organized against a kgosi even if a kgosi could be wrong. People often protest quietly. The Rasesa protesters were mature enough not to cause disturbances. If they wished, they would have caused chaos. A handful of police officers at the kgotla were obviously concerned. They moved to the middle of the protesters who were busy singing anti-Sekai songs as deputy Kgosi was about to leave the kgotla at the end of the meeting. The mission of the officers was to be able to identify troublemakers should there be any.
The background to this case is that sometime in the 90s, while Letshenyo was still a member of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), the community at Rasesa Village approached the army with a request for his release so that he could take up his rightful position as their traditional leader. It is unclear as to why the claimant of bogosi was not brought in to feel the vacancy at that time if indeed he is the right person for the position?
If he was still engaged elsewhere, why didn’t they appoint one of the Buisanyangs? Later in the process, some people started to challenge Letshwenyo arguing that he was there by default. They argued that the position belonged to the Buisanyangs and not the Rasesas. The Buisanyangs and Rasesas are related by blood. Together with the Kgwarapis, they are as close to each other as the Kgafelas and Linchwes or the Pilanes in Mochudi, the Khamas and Seretses or the Sekgomas in Serowe, the Bogatsus and the Gaborones at Tlokweng and the Sebeles and Secheles in Molepolole.
Two years or so into Kgosi Kgafela II’s reign, the dispute into the chieftainship of Rasesa Village continued relentlessly. That led to the Bakgatla Kgosi and Sekai undertaking what could be described as a fact-finding mission to determine the correctness of the village’s bogosi. They heard allegations of Letshwenyo’s grandfather, Rakota having been installed as the village kgosi while he was not biological son of a royal. Those who are opposed to the Rakota’s chieftaincy, say his father was a man named as Mpololo who was non royal. This makes it complex. The complexity of it is that Rasesa as a village was founded in 1910 by a group of people who had broken away from Bokaa Village near Morwa Village.
Rakota’s date of birth is unknown. What is known is that he was already a married man when Rasesa was founded and named after the man who became its first leader. He was born at Bokaa. In fact if this is to be relied upon, it means that he was one of the founders of Rasesa Village. He was a member of the Makuka Regiment. In Fred Morton’s book, “When Rustling became an Art”, the Makuka Regiment was initiated in 1901 with Kgosi Linchwe I’s first born child, Kgafela becoming its leader. Furthermore, his tombstone shows that he died in 1914 at the age of 33. A simple arithmetic work therefore reveals that he was born in 1881. He too was married and had two sons, Kgosi Molefi and Kgosi Mmusi when he died. Using that yard stick, it is not farfetched to put Rakota’s age at around that of Kgafela since they were age mates at regimental level.
The question now is, is there anyone among the present generation at Rasesa Village who can provide the court with evidence showing that Rakota was not the biological son of Matlatlaeng who was the younger brother to Kgosi Rasesa who is the village founder. Courts normally do not accept hearsay evidence. Justice Motlhabi set March 17th as the date for arguments. This is interesting coincidence. The date for arguments being set for during the week of the Ides of March which is March 14 is frightening. In the Roman calendar, March 14 is the date when Julius Caesar was assassinated after having been warned to stay home on the day.
So on March 17, it will depend on which side the scale is tilted. Setting the date for arguments, the judge directed the respondent to file its answering affidavit not later than February 16 and the applicants to file their replying affidavits not later than February 27. In the Kgari Sechele versus Kealeboga Sechele case at the High Court sometime back, the other party agued very strongly that the complainants “slept on their rights” by waiting for more than twenty years since the respondent was designated as Kgosi of Bakwena. In fact it was Pandu Skelemani who was arguing the case for the respondent. He told Kealeboga Sechele, “Your father inherited nothing and you too inherit nothing”.
The arrival of Kagiso Buisanyang as the village leader and the exit of Letshwenyo Rasesa from power was something that had long been timed for. So when his contract expired during the course of 2022, it was like the opportunity having presented itself as he was not recommended to the Minister for renewal. The decision not to renew his contract was apparently made by Kgosi Sekai relying on a fact- finding report he conducted together with Kgosi Kgafela II at the time the latter was still in Botswana but not recognized by government. It is understood that the issue of who the rightful traditional leader for Rasesa is had been brewing until the two leaders initiated investigation into the matter. The outcome of their investigation was that Letshwenyo was there by default and that the leadership should be restored to its rightful place, to the Buisanyangs. That is how Kagiso Buisanyang came into the scene. Letshwenyo replaced his father who was called Raseipei.
He was the headman for Rasesa for many years until he died or retired due to failing health… Raseipei’s father was called Rakota. He too had been headman of Rasesa for many years beginning from the thirties. Kagiso’s suspension from duty has been welcomed by his opponents some who danced outside court saying justice had been served. They had been rooting for that to happen. Whether he continued earning his salary during the period of suspension did not matter to them for as long as he had been removed from public office.
They had gone to court in large numbers. Their lawyer, attorney Motlhala was wearing beautiful smiles when he told his clients outside court that, “effective from today, you don’t have a kgosi at Rasesa and there is nobody who can claim to be your kgosi. As we speak, the position is vacant”. There was deafening applause and clap of hands as he explained. Of course it was a temporary victory for the applicants and their supporters.
