Mmapudi (Madame Goat) Fidelis

 Ordinarily I do not buy a newspaper with anything about the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) on the front page. I say ordinarily because I may have done so if there were prospects of a particularly revolting scandal unfolding, as in the current case. The latest newspaper “The Voice”, has on the front page, pictures of three (3) members of the BDP, among them former Minister of Agriculture Fidelis Molao. The newspaper approached the three men to confirm or refute allegations that they were somehow involved in a cartel to overthrow the BDP leader Mpho Balopi. They all denied the allegations. What I found particularly interesting was what Fidelis Molao said. He said that in an old voice note he had asked for the forensic audit to be made public, something which apparently offended some people. He also reiterated his support for party officials stepping aside when facing criminal proceedings before the courts in order for the accused to defend themselves without putting the name of the Party into disrepute. Moral high ground indeed!

In Setswana language there is a saying “Mma-Pudi ga a ipone sese mo tlhogong”. Literally the saying translates to “Madame Goat does not see what is on her own head”. What is on her own head of course are horns, the very ones she is mocking other goats for carrying on their heads! 

And so here we have a goat, in the persona of former Minister of Agriculture, Fidelis Mmilili Molao. It was he who led an invasion of Hubona Nshakazhogwe’s ranch from the East side. Long before any squatters crossed a clearly marked Western boundary of Mathangwane village, a plot was demarcated and fenced in the adjacent land – Hubona Nshakazhogwe’s land. On several occasions I personally stopped at the plot and asked who it belongs to. Each time, the occupants refused to say who it was. Even when I asked if the “owner” had been allocated the plot by the Ngwato land board, they still refused to answer. It is now clear to me why they remained mum. They knew who I was, a researcher, and feared that they would be exposed as illegal squatters.  To my shock and horror I have now learnt that the squatter is none other than Fidelis Mmilili Molao, prominent member of the then ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

Fidelis Molao must have had access to privileged information hidden away in the vaults of the BDP. The party had removed all information about Hubona’s ranch from public sources, including the National Archives. There is another source of information that Fidelis must have used to identify and corruptly occupy Hubona Nshakazhogwe’s ranch. His father, Molao Ntobe was partly raised on Hubona’s ranch. Hubona’s wife Tshinona, was an Mperi (Jew), and so is Fidelis Molao. Tshinona related to Fidelis’s father, Ntobe as an aunt while she was raising him on her ranch! It is this same Molao Ntobe whose son, Fidelis was now leading squatters to invade her farm! Thank God Tshinona died just a year into our Independence. The treachery would have finished her off!

And so to Fidelis Molao I can only say “these are the horns on your own head; you should be grateful that the Forensic Audit did not include Private land, otherwise you might be destined for rent-free accommodation and free food for a long time to come”.