Earlier today in parliament, a bill was presented to the national assembly by the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs- Honourable Annah Mokgethi.
The Act sought to “re-enact with ammendments, the Change of Name Act, and to make provision for restriction and regulation of the right of any person to assume a surname and for matters incidental thereto.”
The bill attracted diverging views from different Members of Parliament, below are some of the comments made;
“Minister, I suggest that when someone grows up, they should be permitted to change names, if Someone is called Dikeledi (Tears) but dislikes that name, they should be in a position to change to call themselves Boitumelo (Joy).” Honourable Wynter Mmolotsi, Francistown South Member of Parliament.
“This bill is important, it affects women and children. It affects me as a woman, so it is important” Honourable Beauty Manake, Specially Elected Member of Parliament.
“We know that this law is being ammended for those who might want to run for Presidency in the future- those who once changed surnames, this bill is made to protect those who want to run away from their crimes, BDP’s big guns. If priority was ordinary Batswana, we could be talking about Vaccine (COVID-19), not changing of surnames to protect people who should be in prison for that matter.” Honourable Nevah Tshabang, Member of Parliament for Nkange.
For his part, the Leader of Opposition (LOO), Honourable Dumelang Saleshando was not pleased with the presentation of the bill. Saleshando believes that the issue is not pressing. He thinks there are more important bills which should be discussed and ammended, especially now as the pandemic is taking its toll on citizens.
“This is an embarrassment, are you saying we should talk about changing surnames, do you mean the President and the cabinet met and agreed that changing surnames is important to be discussed in parliament amid health issues? Where is the bill for Citizen Economic Empowerment? In 2019 you promised Batswana economy, plots and internet, not change of surnames” Saleshando charged.
