Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GABORONE1100
2005-08-08 14:50:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Gaborone
Cable title:  

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON TRIBAL NEUTRALITY PASSES

Tags:  PHUM PGOV BC 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

081450Z Aug 05

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UNCLAS GABORONE 001100 

SIPDIS


AF/S FOR MUNCY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV BC
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON TRIBAL NEUTRALITY PASSES

REFERANCE: GABORONE 600

UNCLAS GABORONE 001100

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AF/S FOR MUNCY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV BC
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON TRIBAL NEUTRALITY PASSES

REFERANCE: GABORONE 600


1. Botswana's National Assembly passed a Constitutional
Amendment Bill intended to make the Constitution more tribally
neutral by reforming the largely symbolic House of Chiefs
(reftel) on August 2. The Ntlo ya Dikgosi -- Setswana for
House of Chiefs - as it was renamed in the Amendment, provides
a forum for Botswana's traditional leaders to advise the
Government and Parliament on national issues. The Amendment
will add up to twenty new members to the Ntlo ya Dikgosi,
expanding representation in areas of the country where a
variety of small minority groups predominate, as well as five
members appointed by the President.


2. Opposition MPs and civil society organizations
representing minority populations had led the attack against
the bill. They argued that retaining representatives of the
eight "principal" tribes as ex officio members while
submitting others to elections based on geographic
constituencies would leave fundamental tribal inequality
unchanged. A more equitable amendment, they suggested, would
establish identical procedures for selecting every member of
the House of Chiefs. Despite these criticisms, only four MPs
- the leader of opposition and representatives of three
constituencies where minority Bakgalagadi predominate - voted
against the Bill. Other opposition members opposed it in
principle but dared not violate the will of their
constituents, most of whom belong to one of the eight so-
called "principal" tribes.


3. Reteng, a multicultural coalition representing Botswana's
ethnic minorities, condemned the amendment as reinforcing
privileges enjoyed by the Tswana-speaking peoples who account
for less than half of the country's population. Lydia Nyati-
Ramahobo, Reteng's spokesperson, told Political Assistant that
the organization intended to continue pursuing this subject
with the United Nation's Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination.

COMMENT


4. This Bill resulted from a compromise between the
Government's desire to maintain and improve its image as a
liberal democracy on the one hand, and the unwillingness of
the largest and most influential ethnic group in the country
to surrender its privileges on the other. The likely outcome,
more minorities in the House of Chiefs, is welcome.


5. More significant was the expansion of the President's
patronage powers through the introduction of five seats
appointed by him. The Amendment also eliminated a clause i
the constitution on which the First People of te Kalahari had
predicated their legal challenge o the Goernment's
relocation of San and other miorities from the Central
Kalahari Game Reserve. Although the Amendment will not be
retroactive, and therefore will not directly impact the court
case, it demonstrates the Government's determination not to
bow to pressure to review that policy.
AROIAN


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