{"id":47226,"date":"2024-04-19T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T17:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=47226"},"modified":"2024-04-19T16:41:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:41:23","slug":"civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","title":{"rendered":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong><\/span><b>Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united under the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), prepared to take legal action if President Mokgweetsi Masisi ignores their plea to withdraw the Bill.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Led by the Constitutional Review Task Team, the organisations have criticised the Bill for failing to address key reform issues crucial for democracy, fundamental rights protection, and institutional independence in Botswana. The task team chairperson, Morena Monganja, highlighted concerns regarding the lack of public engagement in the amendment process, which they argue was largely controlled by the president and his advisors.<\/p>\n<p>Despite widespread criticism, the Bill proceeded, prompting the civil society to demand its immediate withdrawal and review. Instead, they advocate for a more inclusive and participatory constitution-building process, stressing the importance of public consultation and adherence to democratic principles.<\/p>\n<p>BOCONGO chairperson, Olebile Machete, expressed disappointment over the lack of a people-centred approach despite initial assurances from government officials. Legal action and continued engagement with stakeholders are on the horizon as civil society strives to advocate for a Constitution that reflects the will and aspirations of the people of Botswana.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\">Botswana<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united under the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), prepared to take legal action if President Mokgweetsi Masisi ignores their plea to withdraw the Bill. Led by the Constitutional Review Task Team, the organisations have criticised [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":47225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-47226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"797\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"496\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\"},\"wordCount\":209,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\",\"name\":\"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg\",\"width\":797,\"height\":496,\"caption\":\"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment - Botswana","description":"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment","og_description":"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":797,"height":496,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment","datePublished":"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment"},"wordCount":209,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment","name":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-19T17:15:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Opposition to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is growing with at least 44 civil society organisations, united ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/04\/sm_1713532073.078435.jpg","width":797,"height":496,"caption":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/civil-society-threatens-court-action-over-constitution-amendment#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Civil Society threatens court action over constitution amendment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}