A FIGHT FOR LETLHAKENG/ LEPHEPHE CONSTITUENCY
BDP MP reports councillor for threat to kill
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Letlhakeng Sub-district Council Chairperson also Councillor for Mantshwabisi, Meshack Tshenyego, has appeared in court accused of threatening to kill Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng/ Lephephe, Liakat Kably.
The charge sheet read before court indicated that Councillor Tshenyego on July 8th, 2022 threatened MP Kably by indirectly uttering the following words to nominated councillor, Anderson Molebogi Mathibe, “Mosadi wa ga Liakat le bana ba gagwe ba tsile go lela, mosadi wame le banake le bone batla lela. E tla re re le mo meeting, ka re tsena meeting mmogo, ke tla mo tlolela a bo ke mmolaya (Liakat’s wife and children are going to cry and my wife and kids will cry, too. I will jump on him and kill him in a meeting).
Mathibe recorded the conversation and forwarded it to Kablay, who then reported the matter to the police.
Tshenyego and Kably reportedly had a misunderstanding after the MP lodged a complaint before Letlhakeng Sub District authorities complaining that the councillor was misusing an official vehicle after it was allegedly found parked at one of the local bars.
Interviewed after court, Councillor Tshenyego claimed that theirs was a political fight because he had expressed his ambition to unseat Kablay in 2024.
“Early July this year, I reminded Kablay that I’m also interested in the MP position because in 2019 I assisted him to win elections with an understanding that it was his last term as an MP. He did not express any misgivings concerning my ambitions but, soon after that meeting, he phoned Senior Assistant Council Secretary and instructed him not to offer me a council vehicle anymore to use during my official duties, claiming I was misusing the vehicle,” explained Tshenyego.
The disgruntled councillor further told this publication that Kablay even went further to lie to the Local Government Minister, Kgotla Autlwetse, that he was misusing the government car.
“When I phoned the MP to question him about his crusade of lies against me, he denied ever discussing the issue with the minister. Then I phoned Mathibe since he is very close to the MP and they stay together in Gaborone, to register my displeasure with the MP, and told him that the issue will end with my wife and children crying and the MP’S wife and children crying as we will both lose 2024 elections because of misunderstandings,” said Councillor Tshenyego.
He claimed that to his surprise, on Thursday last week, he was called by Molepolole Criminal Investigation
Department to inform him that he had a case of threat to kill registered against him before the police.
However, it was not the first time the ex-soldier appeared in court facing charges of threat to kill. In June 2019, he was charged for threatening to kill former Letlhakeng Councillor, Stella Segwagwa, and one Land Board official, Kabelo Gabanakgosi, back in August 2017, but the matter was eventually withdrawn. The 40-year-old councillor was granted bail on condition that he provided two sureties binding themselves with the sum of P2,000 each and he paid the same amount. His next appearance in court has been set for October 27th, 2022.