Govt recognises Wayeyi tribe
Tefo Pheage | Tuesday May 31, 2016 15:47
The minister, following this announcement further called on the tribe to submit a name for their chief who will represent them at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi.
In an interview with Mmegi, Ditando Xheba, Wayeyi Chieftainship Council chairperson said they are overjoyed by the government’s decision to recognise them after so many years of struggle for recognition. “We did not relent despite the challenges we encountered and it finally paid off. We can only express our gratitude to the government for considering our cry. We are now working on submitting our chief’s name Kgosi Fish Malepe Ozoo as advised by the minister,” he said.
In 2001 the High Court judgement stated that the Chieftainship Act is discriminatory and it should be amended, further adding that Wayeyi should be recognised and have their chief in the House of Chiefs. It further ruled that all non-Tswana tribes should be recognised.
The order further said that any law that may impede this recognition and is discriminatory against certain tribes should be amended - including the Tribal Territories Act (TTA) andSsections 77 to 79 of the Constitution to increase the number of representatives in the House of Chiefs from 12 to 35.
The government is now moving another step closer to recognising all of Botswana’s tribes. There were previously other tribes, which appeared to be having reservations about the Wayeyi recognition, suggesting that the government should holistically address Ngamiland issues.
Some seemed to be worried that the Wayeyi recognition would ignite other issues like allocation of exclusive tribal territory: Wayeyi however posit that the Wayeyi challenge to the TTA was not fully pursued in the court case - thus the non-Tswana cannot claim group rights to land on the basis of the Wayeyi case but rather on human rights principles.
All Batswana, they say have individual rights to land, as recognised in the Tribal Land Act. The bone of contention according to them are group rights to land, which are perceived to be accorded to the Tswana tribes by virtue of the Tribal Territories Act only providing for eight tribal territories, and hence discriminatory.