10 Apr 2025

The verbal war that has been simmering for some time here, concerning developments within the St. Engenas Zion Christian Church private land dubbed Lentswelemoriti, has attained full maturity, at least by observation and confirmation.

The kgotla meeting by area Member of Parliament, Mr. Taolo Lucas was a catalyst that ignited a spark for the all-out, no holds barred verbal war between messengers of the church led by St. Engenas ZCC’s chairperson of the church council, Mr. Piet Lekganyane and residents of Lentswelemoriti.

Clearly, the two parties have been engaging unsuccessfully to a point where a group dubbed ‘Bana ba Letswelemoriti’ paid MP Lucas a visit to try and intervene with a view of hatching a lasting solution between them and the private land owner, being the church.

At the centre of the war is the fencing of the farm which Mr. Lekganyane said was for the security of the people living within the farm, a claim vehemently objected to by the ‘Bana ba Lentswelemoriti.’

In erecting the said fence, Bana Ba Lentswelemoriti claim not to have been consulted upon which they were disrespected for voicing out their displeasure. They claim that the fence is, in some instances, too close to their yards and therefore becoming “a death trap”.

They argued that as Batswana who should be enjoying their full rights, they needed not be fenced and or contained as they had co-existed with wild animals ever since 1953 when they landed from Mochudi, where they fled religious persecution.

They alleged that Mr. Lekganyane and his entourage would dismiss them as “nothing” and asked who they were when they aired their grievances. Mr. Lekganyane did not rebut the claim, but said they regretted nothing at all.

“We can’t be demonized and dehumanized in this only land we call home. We have the minutes of our meeting with the bishop where he promised us that no developments will be carried here without consulting us,” Mr. Batshidi Tsae said.

“We seek church leaders to respect us and we will in turn offer the same as this ‘village’ is synonymous with mutual respect,” Ms. Sylvia Mlauzi said who decried that being labelled ‘nothing’ demeaned them.

While they demanded respect as Batswana in their homeland, they were reminded of the rights of the freehold land owner in the private land they were demanding respect while lodged at.

Mr. Lekganyane, who was forthright and spoke authoritatively about the rights of the landowner, being the church, accused Bana Ba Lentswelemoriti of being ignorant ringleaders to whom he would not apologize.

Mr. Lekganyane was unapologetic about the church fencing the area and telling those who seek developments to leave the farm and resettle elsewhere.

“When their parents fled Mochudi over religious persecution, the bishop granted them temporary stay in this private farm until the time when things got normal again. But as you know people, they took advantage of the whole situation as if they’re now in their land,” said Mr. Lekganyane.

He said that during the said meeting where they claimed disrespect, they flatly refused to sign attendance register when he had requested to and as a result he decided against going on with the meeting.

“We don’t regret anything. Actually, we’re doing you a favour to have you continually staying in this land,” said Mr. Lekganyane who said the Bana Ba Lentswelemoriti committee did not have the authority to meet with MP Lucas over a church matter.

He said that the ringleaders, who provided statistics of who preferred to stay not to stay in the farm inter alia, did not stay in the ‘village’ but elsewhere and hence they failed to turn up to the consultative meeting they were invited to despite having been given a week to prepare.

The chairperson of the church council pleaded with the complainants not to force the church to implement stiffer rules in order to keep them in line.

“We could start with lease agreement for each and every house inside here if you want to force us into that direction,” he said.

While in full understanding and agreement with church leadership over running of their private land, MP Lucas pleaded for courtesy in engaging with residents.

“While accepting that this is a private land we must also acknowledge that there are people living on it already,” said Mr. Lucas, while also conceding that Mr. Lekganyane was right in claiming that only the land owner could dictate what happens in their farm.

He appealed to church leaders to be clear on whether or not they intended on evicting the people from the farm, and if so, to provide timelines for people to thoroughly prepare.

Realizing that the residents were emotionally charged, the MP encouraged them to appreciate the realities obtaining at the farm as  freehold farms were constitutionally provided for. ENDS