UNION WARS HEAT UP
Ousted members want Motshegwa and Kesebonye jailed
Expelled Botswana Land Boards, Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) Central Executive Committee (CEC) members - first Vice President Nicholas Mothelesi and Treasurer General Baone Seloka - have approached court for relief, again.
This time, they want union Secretary General Ketlhalefile Motshegwa and Thatayaone Kesebonye, the president, to be jailed for contempt of court.
The Midweek Sun is reliably informed that the application was filed with court this week but Mothelesi does not appear as applicant in the matter as he is currently expelled and still fighting for reinstatement in court. Seloka on the other hand successfully fought his way back into BLLAHWU through court and was reinstated in the union but not into the CEC. This week’s court application follows judgement of the Court of Appeal (COA) made a fortnight ago where a reversal was made on Judge Itumeleng Segopolo’s ruling delivered in 2021 in which he had dismissed Seloka and Mothelesi who had since 2020 been contesting the reappointment of Motshegwa as union Secretary General. Motshegwa’s appointment was renewed by the CEC for a period of five years commencing July 2020 to June 2025. Aggrieved and disappointed, the applicants felt that it was wrong for the CEC to re-appoint Motshegwa, saying CEC office bearers can only be elected by congress which is the supreme body of the union. They felt that Motshegwa’s appointment is unconstitutional, selfish and self-serving. The applicants pleaded with court to nullify the appointment of Motshegwa and that the decision of the CEC be set aside. They finally succeeded in their quest to have his appointment nullified when COA agreed with them that according to the union’s constitution approved in 2015, CEC office bearers are elected by union congress.
“The CEC therefore has no power or mandate to nominate, let alone elect a Secretary General. Any decision by it to do so is therefore null and void,” reads part of the COA judgement. In addition, the constitution clearly stated that the CEC can only appoint on acting capacity any member of the union to fill any vacancy in the event of resignation, death or disqualification of a member of CEC pending election. But when appointing Motshegwa, union CEC did not seek to do so in order for him to hold an acting position. There was also no sudden or unexpected vacancy, the person appointed had been holding office and his term expired.
COA said Motshegwa had been holding office for more than 10 years, something which was also against the constitution, which says a CEC can only be in office for two terms of three years each. In response, Kesebonye said the judgement was interpreting the ‘wrong constitution,’ that is the 2015 constitution and not the current one of December 2021. He explained that at a special congress held at Ave Maria, they amended the 2015 constitution and resolved that the position of the Secretary General was not an elective post. “Any ambiguity in the December 2015 constitution was repealed and replaced with a proper intention and mandate of the supreme organ-the congress in October 2021,”
Kesebonye said. Also in December 2021, the CEC he said, held a meeting to re-align the employment of the Secretary General with the decision of the special congress.
“A new contract was re-entered with the Secretary General on the 22nd December 2021, thereby superseding and rendering the contract of employment of the Secretary General dated June 2020 invalid. Both the 2015 constitution and June 2020 contract have long been repealed or cancelled as the case may be,” Kesebonye said.
Meanwhile, COA said when delivering judgement two weeks back that when dealing with the appeal, the respondents being BLLAHWA, Kesebonye and Motshegwa attempted to introduce the current constitution which was approved by the Registrar on the 6th December 2021.
However, it became apparent that the 2021 constitution had no bearing on the matter as it was not in existence at the time court gave interpretation to the constitution sections being disputed. Mothelesi explained that seeing that the respondents have ignored court instructions, they will be asking court to intervene once again.
More to that, they will be asking court to nullify the amended December 2021 constitution because they believe that changes made to it were not in good faith. “We wonder how a constitution being disputed gets amended, we are ready to continue with this fight,” Mothelesi said.
On the other hand, it is business as usual at BLLAHWU and Motshegwa remains Secretary General.
This week, The Midweek Sun was informed that he still signs letters and barks instructions from the top as union Secretary General.
In fact, the CEC had intended to hold a meeting in Jwaneng with BLLAHWU members, however a letter from the Jwaneng branch chairperson Odirile Mokane reveals that they demanded that if the meeting is about Motshegwa and the COA judgement, he (Motshegwa) should not be present at the meeting. “The presence of Motshegwa is likely to intimidate our members and therefore cannot voice their opinions freely,” Mokane said.
In response, Motshegwa wrote a letter last week Friday announcing that the Jwaneng meeting was cancelled.