President Mokgweetsi Masisi has suspended the Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Sethomo Lelatisitswe for contravening Covid-19 protocols.
Lelatisitswe’s one-month suspension follows his family’s unveiling of a tombstone, which took place over the weekend in Letlhakane causing a public uproar calling for the Junior Minister to step down.
“Masisi was embarrassed by his Minister’s behaviour and had no choice but to suspend him,” an inside source had told The Voice a few hours before the release of the press statement that announced the minister’s suspension.
However Lelatisitswe’s incident was not the first time Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had broken the law by contravening Covid 19 laid down protocols as the party once came under fire for attending a party member’s funeral in large numbers. The party’s Central Committee too was at one point under spotlight for contravening and breaking Covid 19 regulations.
However Lelatisitswe’s family gathering sparked social media outrage after the minister posted images of the event on social media, much to the dismay of the public who complained that the legislator and his family had breached the Emergency Powers (Covid 19) Regulations 2020.
The public put the junior Minister under pressure and questioned why no action was taken against him although it was clear that they had broken the law.
A badly written apology issued by Lelatisitswe did not help the situation either as it got the public to pile pressure on the police to compel them to take action against the family.
Letlhakane Police has since charged a senior member of the Lelatisitswe family after he was identified as the event organiser.
“It is true that we charged a senior member of the family P5000 for contravening Covid 19 Regulations,” said Letlhakane Police Station Commander, Superintendent Michael Maphepu.
However, efforts to get a comment from Lelatisitswe and Government Spokesperson, Andrew Sesinyi hit a snag.
