I don’t want to imagine these two scenarios.
Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Oreeditse Molebatsi, being my father, and embarrassment being fatal. I would have long gone through the pearly gates.
Yes I would have long died from the embarrassment doled out by Molebatsi. Add agony to such a scary scenario and make Tonota North MP, Fidelis Molao, my brother.
Before he could even open his first pay slip as Member of Parliament, the brother is talking. Nonsense.
I never knew there existed an MP by the name of Oreeditse Molebatsi, until recently. You see, for me to pay attention to what you say, it has to either make sense or be utter nonsense.
When you talk sense I applaud you and when you talk nonsense I try to knock some into your head with the hope you’re not a dunderhead. The first time I heard of Molebatsi was when it was reported that when asked to give a prayer at a BDP function some few months ago, the man’s prayer shocked not only his colleagues but must have equally baffled the good Lord above .
It was reported that Molebatsi had closed his eyes, folded his arms and prayed that God should subtract a few years from his living years and from his children’s and add to Khama’s life expectancy. To him, and if indeed he had said that, it wouldn’t matter losing his children if their death guaranteed the prolonged life of President Khama.
Well, at the time I dismissed the allegations and only hoped if indeed he had prayed so, he must have been high on something. But what surprises me with Molebatsi’s conduct is that he always has a Zion Christian Church (ZCC) badge pinned on his chest and one would assume the man doesn’t imbibe.
I mean, unlike Fidelis Molao who drinks alcohol and who could be excused for coming to parliament and start behaving like a wino, Molebatsi presumably indulges in ZCC’s traditional black coffee (taela), which I now need to interrogate and find if alcohol is among the ingredients in the concoction.
Just when Molebatsi’s alleged prayer was hopefully being guillotined by God, the man went to Tobane and addressed a Kgotla meeting where it is reported he insulted the residents and bragged to them about his addiction for bottled water.
Apparently the poor villagers had served the MP with tap water in a jar and he went ballistic, accusing them of undermining his state of prestige. It was only after a lot of criticism from various quarters that Molebatsi went back to Tobane and offered an apology and tried to justify his unpalatable statement.
He insulted the residents further by offering a compensation of about P300. I was left speechless to hear that a people’s representative who made it to Parliament through the goodwill and efforts of the people went on to disrespect the very people who made him what he has turned out to be, a man who affords bottled water. It was because people thought he was an honourable man with good manners that is why they sent him to parliament but it would now seem Tswapong people have been sold a dummy or a catchpenny.
Now, Molebatsi is at it again and he recently fell short of saying Ian Khama is mightier than God.
When given the platform to comment on the President’s State of the Nation Address, Molebatsi decided to become President Khama’s praise poet.
King Mswati and King Zwelithini have praise poets who are employed to do just that, recite praise poems for their Kings. If he had his way, I bet Molebatsi would be honoured to assume that job on a full time basis. He is a good poet and what I have noticed with most praise poets is that they are puppets. They are programmed to exaggerate their masters’ efficiencies and portray them as sweet Williams.
The Mmegi newspaper, edition of November 25, ran a story that suggested Molebatsi had told Parliament that President Khama is greater than former Presidents and that soon we will forget about our former Presidents as Khama out shadows them. The next day Molebatsi claimed that the newspaper’s English translation of what he had said in parliament could be no further from the truth.
Luckily, the newspaper reproduced a verbatim account of what the MP had uttered in parliament and the readers can now make their own judgment as to what Molebatsi must have meant when he said what seems to have all of sudden escaped his memory.
I read the poem and couldn’t be bothered with what Molebatsi feels about president Khama.
However, I was concerned that in his desire to state how madly, truly, deeply, crazily he loves Khama, the ZCC man cast aspersions on our former presidents’ characters.
Without rhyme or reason, he is quoted as having told parliament about Khama, “…When he took the baton, he took the medal for running farther; it appears we may forget that there were others before”. Molebatsi contradicts his own metaphor for if we are to entertain his example of Khama having taken the baton and running farther as he implies, I do not see reason why we should scold the people who handed the baton over to him because the expectation was for him to indeed run farther and Molebatsi, if he is of the view that Khama lived to that expectation then all he needs to do is applaud the former presidents for the smooth exchange of the baton. Only a fool can attribute the success of this country to the current President without acknowledging the input of former presidents. I doubt even Ian Khama would be impressed with such hogwash.
And then there is Fidelis Molao who only arrived in Parliament ‘yesterday’ and has already started acting big.
Unlike Molebatsi, Molao is someone I interact with socially and I won’t say much about him here because I know just after writing this piece it is highly likely that I will bump into him at a nearby pub. I will talk to him because just like me, he is a young guy who socializes at entertainment spots, or bars to be precise, and as such I’ll engage him there.
Just a day after he was sworn in as an MP, I was standing outside parliament buildings with Molao where I told him I was afraid he was going to debate issues along party lines, neglecting the core reasons of the motions brought by opposition members. On that day Molao assured me that he was not going to be blinded by his political affiliation to the BDP and would be impartial and thorough in his parliamentary deliberations.
Waii the guy has already been hit by the arrogance bug and he is already labeling motions tabled by opposition members as “nothing but a fight for public opinion and is intended to score political points”. I ask, what is wrong with opposition members scoring points if it is for the benefit of the nation? I’m disappointed because I had hoped Molao would go to parliament and raise genuine points but now he raises jejune political opinions.
