Africa-Press – Botswana. Cracks of a simmering tension at MOLEMA (Motlhabaneng, Lentswelemoriti and Mathathane) Trust are showing.
A chilly morning on Tuesday saw predominantly adult folks clad in their winter regalia, gathering at the post office yard which serves as a makeshift convergence point while village kgotla is still out of use owing to the construction of the shelter.
Before the arrival of the district commissioner and her entourage, the attendants stood in groups and pairs, clearly in the discussion.
After 930am district commissioner Angelina Leano emerged from kgotla offices with a host of public officers from interested departments and parastatals.
“This morning we met with legal advisors who explained to me that I, as the district commissioner and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) had no power to call a meeting and address issues affecting MOLEMA trust.
Only the board is mandated to call such meetings,” the DC said before dismissing the meeting.
The intention of the meeting was for the office to press the board to hold a special AGM to address members, especially as regards a tender to lease the campsite and some general concerns on the trust.
Initially, the district commissioner said she had received a letter from a lawyer representing MOLEMA Trust board stating that her office and TAC should not call a meeting, but she sought legal advice from the attorney general.
“It was a back-and-forth legal tussle until in the morning of Tuesday, before addressing the meeting that it was finally decided that TAC and district commissioner had no right whatsoever to address the Trust, Ms Leano said.
The cancellation elicited mixed reactions. Some were relieved that the meeting was cancelled so that the legal proceedings instituted against the current board could be finalised while others were disappointed that their hopes for updates on the board were dashed.
Some members of the community are backing up the old board while others are with the current board over running of the trust’s campsite just a few metres from Limpopo river, about 36.2km east of Mathathane village.
The crux of the matter, it appeared, was the tender to run a community tourism operation called MOLEMA Bush Camp established in 2000 for the benefit of MOLEMA community.
It is just a stone throw from Limpopo river on the east and about 36km from Mathathane village, via Lekkerpot junction.
It is unfenced. The tents and other structures are completely overshadowed and dwarfed by the gigantic, bushy-leafed trees along the Limpopo River bank.
It has five campsites, each site accommodating four tents. It also has four wooden self-catering chalets which can take a total of 10 people.Apparently, some in the community have a preferred partner to operate MOLEMA campsite while simultaneously imparting skills to the workers.
Actually, the said partner would provide managerial skills while the rest of the duties would be by MOLEMA Trust. A 50/50 partnership, it is said.
However, the previous board had, apparently floated a tender for the operation of the bush camp, a move which the current board is against.
The said tender was not looking for a partner, but an operator as various interviewees, though they did not want to be named, elaborated. They feared to comment publicly on matters before the courts.
Some even accuse TAC of meddling into the affairs of the trust. They read malicious intentions from the TAC.
However, some cleared that TAC, as the advisor to the trust was duty bound to intervene especially that the land in which the campsite was located belonged to the tribe.
“Obviously I am deeply disturbed and disappointed. I had expected that the district commissioner would help facilitate our Trust back to rail as it had derailed for far too long,” said one Mr Norman Mmadithapa after the failed meeting. Although he respected the law, Mr Mmadithapa complained that the trust that had been in existence for 22 years was yet to yield tangible results to the beneficiaries being the villages of Motlhabaneng, Lentswelemoriti and Mathathane.
Surprisingly, the current board chairperson Mr Kebalepile Manyatsa claimed his board was not formally invited to the aborted meeting.
“We came here as ordinary beneficiaries…we were not invited as the board,” said Mr Manyatsa who said he wished for a lasting resolution to the impasse.
“Unfortunately, our expectations were not met due to the legal factors as cited by the district commissioner,” he added and demonstrated that only the board could hold such a meeting as per the constitution.
Although he asked to be kept anonymous, a man from Letswelemoriti was disappointed at the cancellation of the meeting despite being in full understanding of the legal consequences of going ahead with the meeting.
To him, the meeting was a fruitless exercise that affected his daily chores negatively.
He had to put some duties on ice to attend the meeting only for it to be cancelled.
“Ke tsamaetse maoto go ruruga fela,” he said.
He suggested that the constitution of the trust be reviewed to allow for a body and or authority that should review the decisions of the board where the latter is seen to have violated the rights of ordinary members.
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