Magosi will NOT give evidence in Court
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The Director General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, Brigadier Peter Magosi will not give evidence before court in the matter brought by the Sebina brothers over an ex parte search warrant that was issued against them earlier this year.
The Sebina brothers Tshepo Sebina and Kegone Sebina were granted a subpoena order by the Extension Magistrate Court for Magosi to give evidence showing how his predecessor, Colonel Isaac Kgosi, abused his position to award tenders to the companies owned by them amongst the Estate construction. The Sebina brothers are represented by criminal lawyer Unoda Mack together with Mompati Sepego of Sepego Legal Practice.
The State and Magosi are represented by Thato Mojadi and Thato Dibeela of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP). The brothers want Magosi to give evidence on the tender references/documents and award letters of the tenders allegedly influenced by Kgosi in favour of the applicants, banking details, account numbers and other banking details and transactions that allegedly took place between the applicants and Kgosi, including the amounts and dates of such transactions.
In their head of arguments Mack stated that prior to the oral evidence given by Magosi on the 13th January 2019, they were not availed the opportunity to cross examine him hence they pursued the court to subpoena him. They want the evidence given by Magosi to be expunged from the court records as they believe it is insufficient.
They further pointed out that even after 12 months, the court still cannot give evidence on what offence has been committed. “What is the offence? In their court papers they say Kgosi threatened to topple the government, they talk about association. Is association wrong?” Mack further elucidated to the court that the evidence that was given by Magosi under oath does not fully explain how Kgosi influenced the tenders and how much money is claimed to have been transacted.
“In the court record it is evident that the court demanded to know how Kgosi influenced the tenders and they said Kgosi threatened to topple the government. What does a threat to topple the government have to do with the applicants?” Mack asked. The State however said that Magosi will not take the stand as the warrant to search was lawfully obtained. “The guilty are always afraid, why won’t they take the stand? That is because they fear that they will be exposed,” Mack alleged.
The State argues that according to the Intelligence Act where the Director General believes on certain grounds that an offence has been committed they can approach the court to grant them an order of an ex parte search warrant. Mojadi brought the court to the attention of Section 3 of the Intelligence Act which states that the Director General with the powers vested upon him can search with or without a search warrant.
When explaining the offence of threat to national security, Mojadi stated that investigations are still ongoing hence the applicant’s properties have been withheld. “There were tenders that were issued and transactions that needed to be investigated. These are merely investigations on information received. We are not at the stage where the applicants have been charged yet. No offences have been proffered yet,” she said.
Mack lashed at the State’s argument citing to the court that there is no offense that has been established yet, hence the matter should be ended. “It is a requirement to state the offence under the Intelligence Act. The order we seek today is to release the properties of the applicants,” he said. The case will continue on the 3rd February 2020.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.