During the few years after ascending to the throne, Kgosi Mosadi has been unrelenting in her fight for her tribe’s land at Farm 9 KO lying south of Gaborone bearing a title deed from a purchase made by her subject’s taxes in 1925 to Crocodile Pools. Despite the said portion of land bearing a title deed, it has attracted vested interest from government and technocrats.
The tribe won a court case last year May to the effect that the freehold land rightfully belongs to the tribe but government has since appealed the court decision. By the time you read this article the case would have been decided in favour or against the tribe.
Back in 1996, government was willing to partner with the tribe for what would have been known as a mixed use development in the form of private public partnership ownership in which the tribe would have seen P90 million accruing to it but along the years this plan was botched.
“We pray that the Appeals Court will also apply its mind and uphold the decision taken by the High Court,” she told The Telegraph before the court deceision.
She has had to fight with two Presidents in her reign. First it was Ian Khama who had a brief stint at the Ramotswa royal house when his father Sir Seretse Khama was banished from Serowe after marrying a white woman. Khama never saw eye to eye with Seboko at times accusing her of being insurbordinate to him implying that he is a “superior chief.” at one tribal assembly to murmurs of disapproval from the Ga-Malete tribal assembly.
Enter Mokgweetsi Masisi. He was largely seen as a sympathetic President to Balete given that he married from the same ward that Kgosi Seboko comes from. On the eve of the2019 elections, the President told Balete during a Kgotla meeting (traditional amphitheatre setup meeting) that he was alive to the tribe’s bitterness over intended compulsory acquisition of their farm by government. He said then that he would not interfere with due processes to resolve the land issue impasse. But his government last week issued a rebuttal statement to Seboko’s claims that he was leaning a heavy hand on judges to rule in favour of government against the tribe.
“Some may be holding political power but my duty is to defend my tribe over what rightly belongs to them. It is a cause I am prepared to defend,” she told Sunday Standard.
Kgosi Mosadi ascended to the throne in 2002 after being officially confirmed by the then Minister of Local Government Dr. Margaret Nasha. She succeeded her late younger brother Kgosi Seboko II and has been leading her tribe for two decades.
She is the first born daughter of Kgosi Mokgosi III who died in 1966 on the eve of Botswana’s independence.
The mother of four married daughters, her ascension to the throne came as a cultural shock to the male patriarchy in Ramotswa. Despite vehement opposition, sanity prevailed in the end when a predominantly Ga-Malete male tribal assembly endorsed her as Paramount Chief.
Her ascension to the throne was significant in the fight for gender parity and the rights of the girl-child. This inspired other women in the traditional leadership positions in Botswana who are not necessarily paramount chiefs.
A former banker, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko’s remarkable work and her efforts in resuscitating culture, contributing to the fight against HIV/ AIDS through education, arresting teenage delinquency that bedeviled her tribe and promoting projects aimed at economic empowerment the youth have not gone unnoticed.
In the years that followed, she has worked with several collaboration partners such as government, the US Embassy through the Peace Corps and various non-governmental organisations.
Her appointment to the Pan African parliament
In 2018, the executive arm of government under former President Ian Khama recommended Kgosi Mosadi Seboko to the Pan African Parliament to represent the country to affirm that women play a significant role as equal participants of the development of the African continent.
“It was the decision of the executive that I represent Botswana at the Pan-Africa Parliament‘s (PAP) Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability more so that I was chairperson of the Commission on Gender set up in 2018. It is unfortunate that it did not complete the business it was mandated to carry out due to the Covid-19 pandemic ” says Seboko.
“It is a very important committee. It addresses issues such as trade, agriculture which go a long way in empowering women. Women play a major role in agriculture at a continental scale.
The Pan-Africa Parliament set up a “vital subcommittee” that is tasked with advancing advocacy strategy for the promotion of ratification of the Protocol and Domestication of the African Model Law on Disability at the August Sittings of the Permanent Committees of the sixth Parliament of the PAP in Midrand, South Africa.
According to General Provisions, Article 1, the purpose of the African Model Law on Disability is to provide legal and institutional framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, in line with the existing international and regional legal and policy instruments.
The subcommittee constitutes representatives from across five regions of Africa with Hon. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko from Botswana representing the Southern Africa region, Hon. Eric Ngalula ILUNGA (DRC) representing Central Africa region, Hon. Maimuna Ceesay (Gambia) representing West Africa region, Hon. Marie Sandra Monia Mayotte (Mauritius) representing East Africa region, Hon. Dr Randa Mohamed Ahmed Mostafa (Egypt) represents the Northern African region while Hon. Caroline (Uganda) completes the list.
The subcommittee is said to be crucial as it works in tandem with the African Disability Organisations and African Union (AU) Rep on prioritisation of ratification of the Protocol and Domestication of the PAP Model Law on Disability.
“We do not need to waste time; this subcommittee we have established must reach out to all PAP committees, entire PAP members, all Foreign Affairs Ministers and Heads of State in regard to the ratification of this Model law. It is my wish that by the end of the year we have positive feedback on this important matter. This shouldn’t be about gender committee only, let it be an African matter. We also need individuals to be active across Africa without fail when it comes to this model law, is the view of the Pan-Africa Parliament.
Youth empowerment
“The youth are a very important component of our societies here in Botswana and the rest of Africa. Quite often they are neglected in policy formulation by governments perhaps by design or by their lack of interest in participating in programmes aimed at uplifting them. African youth must be nurtured.
“In the context of Botswana,it is unfortunate that our youth are not active participants on the Constitutional Review. It cannot be okay that they are left out on this very important deliberation which is going to ultimately determine their future,” says Seboko.
“I was one of the pioneers of the South East District Empowerment Association,” she adds.
The South East District Youth Empowerment Association (SEDYEA) was created to tackle the growing problem of HIV/AIDS in Botswana by delivering sports, arts, skills development, and community outreach that develop leadership and transferable employment skills in young people.
SEDYEA also runs a peer leadership and life skills project which organises sports and education activities in schools and communities, as well as the Kgatelopele Safe Spaces Programme for young women.
SEDYEA runs the largest youth football league in the south-east district of Botswana that brings together 3,200 players. Through daily coaching clinics, weekly study groups, school outreach, and girls’ forums, SEDYEA has become a regional education centre for good health and well-being.
“Unfortunately, politicians wanted to hi-jack and politicise this noble cause. I have no problem with people joining others initiatives to grow them but the opposite appears to be true,” says Kgosi Seboko.
The family structure
“There is no important structure like the family in every aspect of society. Senior citizens in my interactions with them feel sidelined and stigmatised. They refuse to be referred to a sold age but senior citizens. We need to draft legislation that recognises the role that senior citizens have played in their active lives and reward them accordingly,” she says.
On people with disabilities
“In other countries people with albinism are discriminated against to the extend that some end up being murdered for ritual purposes. We in the royal family had royals with albinism. We had Rahube and Ramosetlhanyana who were accepted by their parents and the entire Ga-Malete tribe. This taught the tribe to accept those who are different from us and protect them from being marginalised,” worries Seboko.
She says Ga-Malete has shown compassion towards people who are differently disabled from some of us. “We were the laughing stock of other tribes who referred our village as “ko digoleng” (the capital of people with disabilities).”
“I don’t think other tribes do not have people who are differently disabled. I suspect that they are not keen to openly admit that they have such members among them,” she says.
“In Ramotswa we are fortunate to have institutions that cater for children who are differently disabled such as Thuto Boswa where children are taught life surviving skills such as poultry, sowing, clothing design, bead work, leather works, rabbit production on a small scale.
Then you have the Botswana Centre for the deaf for those with hearing impairment. Interestingly, BSD has about 96 clients drawn from all over the country with only four coming from Ramotswa. From my experience, I have come to observe that the parents of children who are placed at such schools are often reluctant to collect their children at the end of the school term preferring them to stay at one of the institutions I have mentioned above being the Botswana Centre for the Deaf which has boarding facilities. Pupils from the Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf graduate into the Tswelelopele Brigade Centre right here. They are often reluctant to go to their villages upon completion of their education. Those who have entered the work of work have applied for residential plots in Ramotswa. They feel at home here. The differently disabled are human like the rest of us. They have the same needs as the rest of us.
“I know of cases where they intermarry despite their disability challenges. Like everyone else, they too have their own shortcomings. I had to preside over a a case in which the Village Development Committee in Ramotswa wanted to evict a deaf couple from their rented home for defaulting on rent. The Social workers were not supportive. Following my intervention, we reached a common ground,” says kgosi
In Otse village at the Camphill Rankoromane institution, I am happy that children who are differently disabled, are assimilated from when they are toddlers and grow within the institution. I was touched by one client who was dismissed by society but progressed to obtain an University degree against all odds. The other was able to acquire life skills to fend for his own disabled child.
The Ga-Malete tribal authority has held several workshops in conjunction with the British High Commissioner before the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic – workshops at which we brought together children with disabilities and their parents to appreciate the challenges they faced in their everyday lives.
For example, children from the Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf and those from Thuto Boswa were taken on a workshop I organised for them in conjunction with the African Women Leadership Academy to address the thorny issue of gender-based violence.
“I was a member of the inaugural Gender Commission which I chaired which was informed by the National Policy on gender with a mandate that sought to formulate policies to arrest the scourge. Unfortunately, the commission did not finish its business and was disbanded at a time when I had requested that we traverse the length and breath of this country to educate society on gender-based violence and its associated negative impacts. I did not end there, as the tribal authority, we formed synergies with local government and formed the District Committee comprising all stakeholders you can think of to educate our communities on gender-based violence beginning with our headmen from Ramotswa, Taung, Otse and Mogobane and took the programme to schools and village wards,” she says.
Her work with NGOs
Kgosi Mosadi seboko has worked with Ms Keabonye Ntsabane – a renowned gender activist who has over 40 years of work experience.
Ms Ntsabane mobilized donation of blankets and clothes while she was Botswana Media Association chairperson towards assistance of Malawi flood victims in collaboration with the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs
.
While she was the country manager of Gender Links she as well donated Christmas presents to Bomme Ba Magolegwa at Women Prison. She is one of the founders of the Kagisano Womens Shelter which currently provides counselling for GB survivors in the country.
She is currently a volunteer at Ga Malete Development Trust as a Vice Secretary. She is founder of Keabonye Ntsabane Gender Based Violence Trust in Taung, Ramotswa which creates awareness on gender parity/ gender based violence for Balete, targeting vulnerable citizens and produces women profiles for women in politics.
On some of her tribe’s possessions
During the few years after ascending to the throne, Kgosi Mosadi has been unrelenting to affirm ownership of her tribe’s prime land at Farm 9 KO lying south of Gaborone bearing a title deed from a purchase made by her subject’s taxes in 1925. Despite the said portion of land bearing a title deed, it has attracted protestation from government. The tribe won a court case last year May to the effect that the freehold land rightfully belongs to the tribe but government has since appealed the court decision.
Back in 1996, government was willing to partner with the tribe for what would have been known as a mixed use development in the form of private public partnership ownership in which the tribe would have seen P90 million accruing to it but along the years this plan was botched.
“We pray that the Appeals Court will also apply its mind and uphold the decision taken by the High Court,” she says.
One of the tribe’s key projects, which it has an emotional attachment to, is the Mogobane Irrigation Scheme . It collapsed decades before her reign after years of drought but she came to revive it. Government came to the party with a P10 million injection but has since withheld P3 million meant for the project.
“I appreciate government for stepping in but I am dismayed that a portion of the money (P3 million out of P10 million)allocated) has been withheld for reasons better known to government. The project is almost stalled. As the tribal authority, our wish was that government would allow us to appoint people whom we felt were competent to run the project seeing how those appointed by government appear to lack the expertise we had expected of them.”
The Ramotswa Cooperative Society under Kgosi Mosadi’s authority, has been given a life line by a business partner. Sefalana Group has come to revive it by way of leasing premises coupled with a face lift. Kgosi Mosadi says the more than one thousand households in Ramotswa stand to benefit from proceeds of the leased property which will trickle down to each every household with undisputed membership of the cooperative. It is anticipated that the majority of beneficiaries are likely to be elderly citizens.
Tribe’s association with the American Embassy
Through its Peace Corps volunteers, the American Embassy in Botswana has identified Ramotswa as an orientation ground for its volunteers. For several years, American Peace Corps get to be orientated in Ramotswa. The chief says she is all the more please with the feedback she gets from the volunteers and the American embassy in Gaborone. In September this year, some 30 new American volunteers were welcomed at the Ramotswa Kgotla (traditional amphitheatre).
Resuscitation of culture.
The male and female initiations known as bogwera and bojale respectively were revived when Kgosi Mosadi took the reigns in 2002. The Covid-19 pandemic put an upset in the last two years but the ceremonies are expected to continue once the pandemic comes to pass.
