The minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane, is scheduled to release the Malope report which has long been awaited by the Bakgatla chieftainship.
The report is scheduled for release end of this month.
The Bakgatla are optimistic despite having waited two years for its release. Speaking to The Telegraph this week, minister Tsogwane said, it is true that he will be releasing the Malope report.
“This will be done end of this month,” he said.
He confirmed that Government has studied the report thoroughly and, therefore, the time for its public release has come. He said this process will be done in consultation with the concerned tribe.
He said it will be premature to divulge the contents of the report to the media before the concerned parties had seen it or discussed the contents.
“This is a sensitive matter that deserves to be treated with the respect that it deserves,” he stated.
He said that the report took a long time to be released mainly because of unforeseen circumstances that somehow delayed the process. When contacted for comment the chairman of Bakgatla delegation, Moagi Molebatsi, who was elected by the tribe to address the troubled chieftainship, said Bakgatla delegation recently met with Tsogwane and discussed several issues that signaled positive attitude towards Government.
He stated that the minister promised them that he will properly address the tribe by end of this month, the same time he will release the Malope report.
“As the chairman of the delegation, I am really optimistic that the report will give us the good things that we have been waiting for”.
He pointed out that the meeting is scheduled to be held over the weekend to allow everyone to attend, including workers.
He stated that the standoff between Government and the tribe should now come to an end and encouraged both parties to work together for the betterment of the district.
He revealed that the minister informed him that the report could have been released sometime last year but there were some members of the royal family who somehow engaged Government behind the back door without the interest of the tribe.
“That delayed the minister to release the report because they confused him”.
He stated that they want Kgosi Sekai to be reinstated and become the regent of Bakgatla but unfortunately a third force is currently campaigning for someone different. He however could not divulge the name to the media.
“Our payer as the tribe is that when we celebrate 50 years of independence, we want all the issues surrounding the chieftainship to have been resolved and both parties working together”.
Molebatsi further stated that Government officials are expected to meet with exiled Kgosi Kgafela in due course. In 2014 President Dr. Ian Khama instituted a commission led by the paramount chief of Bangwaketse Kgosi Malope to probe the problems surrounding the chieftainship of the tribe in which it submitted its findings to the government.
