US embassy cable - 05GABORONE1100

UNCLAS GABORONE 001100 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AF/S FOR MUNCY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, BC, Human Rights 
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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