Lelatisitswe deserves to be punished - BCP
Party says Police bungled the case
Botswana Congress Party ( BCP) says that the failure by Botswana Police to charge Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Sethomo Lelatisitswe clearly shows that the COVID- 19 regulations are not meant for certain people in the society.
This comes after the BCP Boteti Region reported Lelatisitswe to the police for violation of the COVID- 19 regulations after pictures of a family activity went viral on social media platforms.
The police have since fined the Assistant Minister’s elder brother P5 000. According to the police, the elder brother was the organiser of the event.
After the event sparked debate on social media, Lelatisitswe apologised on behalf of “my family to the nation, the President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the entire leadership of the country for the post and comments on my Sethomo Lelatisitswe Official Facebook Page by the page administrator.” According to him the page administrator is his nephew. “I want to make it clear from the outset that this particular occasion as everyone will know from a family standpoint in our tradition is organised and coordinated by close family and this is what happened.
“Dates were long set a long time ago and tombstone erected, it was on this day that our mother was taking off the mourning black/ blue dress, our culture prescribe that immediately after giving her a new dress she has to be escorted to the cemetery by her children to show her where her late husband has been resting for past 12 months - Go gatisiwa phuphu.
“Prior and during the occasion be rest assured that all was done to satisfy the parameters of existing laws of this country and under strict Covid- 19 protocols or instructions,” Lelatisitswe, who is also MP for Boteti East said.
BCP Boteti Regional Secretary Daisy Bathusi said the party will assess the response from the police and decide a way forward. She told this publication that they had expected the Assistant Minister as the custodian of the regulations to know better.
“The Minister should have known better as the custodian. The expectation is that he should have guided the entire family because as he rightfully put it out in his apology, the event was long- planned.
“What the police is saying is that the Assistant Minister is above the law. So even if someone else was the organiser, the Assistant Minister gave them the confidence and assurance that what they were doing was right and allowed.
“Everything is just rigged to vindicate Lelatisitswe. The police have told me that they have my response so once we get the response, we will deliberate on it and act accordingly,” Bathusi revealed. She said it is also surprising that the police only charged the ‘ organiser’ while in most instances everyone found to have been part of the illegal gathering is charged. She said the decision by the police is just too convenient and wanting. She is however not surprised as the police failed to take action against the Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP) central committee last year after it violated the regulations following a similar complaint by the then BCP Secretary- General, Phillip Monowe.
The Assistant Minister stated in his apology, “for those who know my family we are law- abiding citizens, we will never at any point defy or undermine the President’s efforts or those of Government to arrest the Covid19 situation so that Batswana could go back to their normal life. “I know my responsibility as Assistant Minister tasked with fighting the pandemic that is why I feel the post and comments sent a wrong message about me and my government”.
The BCP in its report to the Letlhakane Police Station Commander stated that in terms of regulation 5 ( 1) and ( 4) of the Emergency Powers ( Covid 19 regulations S1 No 61 of 2020, all gatherings have been suspended with exception of a meeting of the cabinet; National Assembly; council; National Task Force on Covid- 19; religious organisations; funerals and any other gatherings as the Director of Health Services may authorise.
The party argued that it, therefore, follows that Lelatisitswe breached the COVID- 19 regulations and hence committed a crime. Meanwhile the assistant minister has since been suspended from Cabinet for a month. A press statement from the Office of the President released Wednesday states that President Masisi suspended Lelatisitswe from his ministerial duties for a period of one month for violating COVID- 19 restrictions.