News.
Source Mmegi.
FRANCISTOWN: Thirty-six-year-old Gobuamang Ntsuape was yesterday sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend's mother, Sadi Kgosietsile.
Justice Lot Moroka of the Francistown High Court said through the information provided, he learnt that Ntsuape’s father who was his custodian, died in 2010 and upon his death his mother cohabited with another man. Justice Moroka stated that the accused person did not accept the man brought by his mother and he chased him.
When giving out the sentence, Justice Moroka sentenced Ntsuape to five years imprisonment for arson and on count three to seven on the offences of attempted murder 15 years imprisonment each.
He added that on count eight of malicious damage to property the accused person is sentenced to five years in prison.
Justice Moroka indicated that count three to seven shall run concurrently and they shall run consecutively to count two and eight.
“On count one of murder, the accused person is hereby sentenced to death .You shall be hanged by neck until you die. You have the right to appeal this conviction, sentence or both at the Court of Appeal within 14 days),” the judge concluded.
But who relly should be hanged? Gobuamang, or the Botswana Government for not providing support in coping with the trauma Gobuamang suffered from the death of his father and not being able to accept a stepfather?

Read from March 5, 2022.
What struck me was the sentence: "However, he did not believe that democracy would come to Africa now." Before colonialization, the chiefs of the tribes were supreme. The colonialists had overthrown them and taken over their power. Could it be that they thought they could regain this power by making their country independent? Was there perhaps a misunderstanding about the conditions imposed by the colonialists for granting independence? Democracy is still understood in different ways. As far as I am concerned, this means that all people have the same status. A statement about socialism: "Socialism does not mean treating the king like a cleaning lady, but a cleaning lady like a king." Although I think this is a bit exaggerated. The fact that many people today use more raw materials than the earth can provide makes this clear. It is better that it is more fairly distributed among all people and that no one thinks they are better or less than others.
In some countries, heads of state believe that their way of governing is best for the people of their country. If there is criticism, it is brushed aside, sometimes with a heavy hand. One of those who has pushed aside criticism from civilians in an extreme way is King Mswati III of Eswatini. See for more information the Swaziland News on internet.

Read from 5 March 2022.
Democracy.
Quotation from "Debates on the independence of Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. Quotation from a report of the UN General Assembly, twenty-first section: Report of the Special Commission on the Situation Relating to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 1966. Page 98."
"381. The representative of the United Republic of Tanzania stated with regard to the statement just made by the Uruguayan representative, that the Latin American countries had given Africa many good examples, especially during their struggle for their independence. However, he did not believe that democracy was now coming to Africa. The history of that continent had always been marked by bloodshed and what was now taking place in Africa was a process of decolonization. It was therefore not really a question of democracy coming to Africa but a question of restoration to the Africans of the rights of which they had been robbed by the colonial Powers. The fact that African petitioners were appearing before the Special Committee caused him sorrow because it showed how Africa today was still being oppressed and how human freedom was still being infringed in the world. Africans were not so much interested in the idea of independence per se as in the kind of independence achieved. For example, Ian Smith had declared himself independend; however, that type of independence could not be recognized because was imical to African interests. The same applied to South Africa. Its independence was not true independence because it rested in the hands of a minority which exploited the rest of the people. His delegtion was therefore mainly interested in the nature of independence; the evidence of the petitioners must therefore be taken into consideration, because, despite certain obvious contradictions, they represented the people and spoke on their behalf. Contradictions could also be found in the statements by the administering Powers; he might mention, for example, the position taken by the United Kingdom Government on Southern Rhodesia and the very different attitude it had taken in the case of Aden, even though the populations in question were similar. As far as the assurances given by the United Kingdom Government were concerned, he recalled often such assurances had remained a dead letter. " End of quotation.

News. Source Sunday Standard.
Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) has responded to criticism about the recent killing of giant elephants tuskers. Hunter Leon Kachelhoffer attracted international attention recently after posting a picture of himself kneeling next to a big tusker he had just killed in Botswana. Former president Ian Khama led the criticism, calling the country’s leadership ‘incompetent and poor’. “This was one of the largest if not the largest tusker in the country. An elephant that tour operators constantly tried to show tourists as an iconic attraction. Now it is dead,” Khama wrote on his Facebook account.
An administrator at Tcheku Community Trust, which sold the elephant to Kachelhoffer, Peter Bantu indicated “At this rate, what we can say is that there was nothing wrong about killing the elephant. The proceeds from the sale of this bull will benefit the community." According to Bantu, when members of the community benefit from such proceeds, they have a sense of ownership of elephants and actively participate in anti poaching activities.
DWNP Director Dr. Kabelo Senyatso also dismissed perceptions about the diminishing numbers of big tuskers. He says a remarkable feature of the Botswana hunting data from 1996-2013 has shown that the proportions of tusks of different sizes taken in the Controlled Hunting Areas (CHAs) over 15 years of hunting remained constant from year to year.
Senyatso says Botswana’s hunting quota is an evidence- and science-based process, economic viability. Specifically for elephants, Dr. Senyatso says, the elephant hunting quota allocation is based on several factors as explained in the Botswana National Elephant Management Plan and Action Plan 2021 to 2026.
The Management Plan aims to conserve optimal elephant populations while ensuring the maintenance of habitats and biodiversity, promoting the contribution of elephants to local economies and to national development while minimizing their negative impacts on rural livelihoods through three main targets. It aims to maintain viable populations of elephants in Botswana through minimal interference and where necessary by adaptive management.
The Plan also hopes to ensure elephant populations do not adversely impact on biodiversity conservation goals and community livelihood goals as well as involving all stakeholders in the realization of the full economic potential of elephants and other wildlife resources outside the protect areas through sustainable utilization.
Read more: https://www.sundaystandard.info/department-of-wildlife-responds-to-international-backlash-over-giant-elephant-killings/

News. Justice Itumeleng Segopolo of the Gaborone High Court will this morning (25 March 2022) make a ruling in the case in which Lesiame Pitseng is asking to be allowed to bury his father Pitseng Gaoberekwe at Metsiamanong in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). The body of the deceased has been lying in a morgue in Gantsi for four months. Government has persistently denied the family permission to allow for the body of Gaoberekwe to be interred in the CKGR. Responding to the application before the court, State attorney, Advocate Sidney Pilane has argued that the deceased has no right to be buried in the game reserve.
“He is deceased and no longer exists as a person with rights. He is now a thing. And the question arises whether anybody can assert his right when he is deceased and what right does the applicant have to assert the dead person’s right?” argued Pilane.
The State also submitted that the deceased was not a beneficiary of the 2006 High Court judgement of Sesana and Others versus the Attorney General because he was not part of the 189 people who formed the case.
Pilane also argued that since the Constitution has been amended to remove Section 14.3.C, the deceased did not have a right to live in the CKGR. Section 14.3.C was a key clause in the Constitution that protected Basarwa’s freedom of movement in the game reserve. The effect of the amendment was that no one is allowed to be in the CKGR without a permit.
See for more on links in this site's homepage.

Read from 5 March 2022.
African tribes themselves fought their infighting and still do. As an example, a recent ruling in Mmegi by attorney Sidney Pilane. “Stop spoiling Basarwa (San). “Why do we keep treating them differently? They are Batswana (Botswans) just like the rest of us. Why do we continue to treat them as objects of complaint deserving of our charity? It's time we treat them as equals," said Pilane. Conclusion: "Why do we continue to treat Botswanas as if they were objects of complaint that deserve our charity? It's time we treat them as equals." However, Pilane had forgotten that he was a driving force behind the brutal removal of the San from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He did not drive the non-San from their lands.

Read from 5 March 2022.In line with the previous question, it can be declared that if European countries had not colonized Africa, there would have been no colonialists against whom Botswana should have been protected.