WeeklySA_AdminDAMAGE: Falsely accused of stealing R170 billion, Botswana’s former president wants retribution after “unquantifiable” harm to his and friend SA businesswoman Bridgette Motsepe’s reputation…
By Monk Nkomo
Former Botswana president Ian Khama has launched a fight-back crusade against his detractors – weeks after returning to his native country following a three-year, self-imposed exile in South Africa,
Through his lawyers, Mack Bahuma Attorneys, Khama is demanding the arrest of senior Botswana government officials who fabricated evidence against him in 2019, accusing the former president and his South African friend Bridgette Motsepe of money-laundering relating to R170 billion in “stolen” Botswana government funds.
At the time, businesswoman Motsepe, sister to billionaire Patrice Motsepe, was fingered as a co-signatory to at least two bank accounts holding the amount stolen purportedly to finance “terrorism”.
An investigator in Botswana’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Jako Hubona, had made the claims in an affidavit submitted in a case involving Botswana intelligence agent Welheminah Maswabi – codename “Butterfly” – who had been charged with financing terrorism, possession of unexplained property and false declaration for a passport. She was alleged to have worked with Motsepe to launder the looted money out of Botswana.
In a letter to the Botswana Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dated October 16 2024, Khama’s lawyers have branded the allegations by senior Botswana government officials against him as baseless, calling for their immediate arrest for staining the reputation of the country’s judiciary.
The lawyers, in the letter, indicated that they are acting on behalf of Khama, Motsepe and former intelligence agent Maswabi. They hold that certain public officials manufactured “a baseless and politically motivated investigation” against the three. This had led to the arrest, detention and prosecution of Maswabi and caused unquantifiable harm to their three clients.
Khama, who returned to his native country last month after living in exile in South Africa for three years, has long argued that the allegations and a subsequent court against him emanated from his political fallout with incumbent President Mokweetsi Masisi.
According to the lawyers, the whole saga started when it was alleged, without substantiation or evidence, that in 2008, Khama (supposedly with the assistance of the late Colonel Kgosi), a former Director of Intelligence and Security (DIS), had opened a series of accounts at the Bank of Botswana and used the accounts to funnel more than R170 billion in US dollars of public funds out of the State’s coffers. The lawyers said their three clients were also accused of laundering these funds to various international bank accounts, of which Motsepe and Maswabi were signatories.
Maswabi was charged for possession of unexplained property, financing terrorism and a false declaration regarding a passport.
“These fantastical and outrageous allegations have since been discredited’’, Mack Bahuma Attorneys say in the letter. “Our clients were victims of grave but false accusations at the instance of public officials.’’
On August 23 2023, High Court Judge J Kebonang, found that the accusations in the charge sheet and the Hubona affidavit, were deliberately fabricated, according to lawyers for the three. These findings were subsequently confirmed and upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Botswana’s Chief Justice Terence Rannowane, condemned what he also termed baseless allegations in a letter to the country’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi. He lambasted the proceedings and said the accused was brought to court on fabricated evidence.
“That particular case brought untold reputational damage to our criminal justice system, not just here at home but abroad.’’
Retired Cape High Court Judge and former Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court, Dennis Davis, reviewed the evidence against the three independently and found unequivocally, that the case , based on all the evidence available, was ‘’predicated on baseless allegations which have no place in a court of law.’’
Another academic, South Africa’s former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, also independently reviewed the evidence and found that it exonerated Khama and Motsepe and instead represented a stain on the reputation of Botswana’s judiciary. So did a global law firm, Omnia Strategy, which cleared Khama and Motsepe after an investigation in 2020.
Lawyers for Khama, Motsepe and Maswabi, in the letter to the DPP, submitted that by preparing the charge sheet as well as the Hubona affidavit and presenting them to court, the public officials behind these documents and those who directed them, committed various offences and ought to be prosecuted. These offences included, but were not limited to, abuse of power, perjury, fabricating evidence and conspiracy to defeat justice.
The three clients had suffered immense reputational harm as a result of the spurious allegations of the theft of public funds, money laundering and financing domestic terrorism.
The alleged scheme was serious and damaging in nature, “as it was outlandish and all the more consequential for the role played by some public officials,” the lawyers said.
‘’This, notwithstanding and despite the findings in a ruling by Judge Kebonang and confirmed by the Appeal Court, the DPP, has taken no steps to address the harm caused for those affected – one of whom has since died before justice could be served. It is in light of the DPP’s continuing failure to act that our clients will be forced to bring a private prosecution.’’
It was in view of the charges that these officials faced that the three requested the DPP to immediately initiate criminal proceedings against all the public officials who presented the charge sheet and the Hubona affidavit as well as those who directed them.
Mack Bahuma Attorneys warned: “Should the DPP fail to act against the perpetrators within 30 days from the date of service hereof, then our clients will conclude that the DPP has declined to prosecute and they will bring a private prosecution at a time of their choosing’’.
• Khama appeared in the Botswana magistrate’s court on September 13 on charges of illegally owning a gun and receiving stolen property, after returning from three years in exile ahead of an election in which his bitter rival is seeking a second term in the October 30 elections.
The magistrate suspended two arrest warrants against him on Friday for failing to turn up to answer the charges back in April 2022. Khama had been in exile, in South Africa, since late 2021.
The allegations include unlawful possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and procuring the registration of a firearm by false pretence. The former president has denied them and says they are politically motivated.
