On the day that a verbose Deputy Speaker coined a new English word, a ritually chaotic 12th parliament ended on an even more chaotic note. While the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare, tried to absolve himself of blame for ginning up controversy where none had existed, all accusing fingers pointed firmly at him. More importantly though, Rakgare was able to do what he did primarily because Deputy Speaker Pono Moatlhodi failed to enforce clear parliamentary rules.
Rakgare began by making an otherwise innocent statement about a dinner hosted at Boipuso Hall in Gaborone to honour Botswana’s Olympic team – which had won gold (Letsile Tebogo) and silver (4 x 400 metre men’s relay team) medals. The team was made up of Tebogo, Bayapo Ndori, Collen Kebinatshipi and Anthony Pesela.
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