17 Dec 2019

Twenty nineteen (2019) will likely be remembered as one of the most tumultuous years, marked by major campaigns by the police to uproot love killings, road accidents, corruption, livestock theft and murder.

Only time will tell what 2020 will bring, but experts foresee a future in which the trends and battles of 2019 will spill over into the coming year.

As the curtain falls on 2019, there is no respite for the police and other law enforcement agencies, as crime continues on an upward trajectory. In this article, we look at some of the big news stories that made headlines in the year under review.

Worth noting is one of the landmark decisions made by the courts of law in 2019 was the decriminalisation of homosexuality. In a landmark case, in June, the High Court ruled that laws criminalising same-sex relations are unconstitutional. Justice Michael Leburu set aside the provisions of the penal code, which punishes same-sex relations, saying the question of private morality should not be the concerns of the law.

Perhaps among the most gruesome murders recorded this year is the one in which a family of three, comprising a man, his wife and their daughter, was found dead on June 10 in Gaborone’s Tsholofelo East location.

A suspect, Kativa Diwanga (33) is currently facing charges relating to the murder of the trio, who were identified as Mr Methulesi Nsoliwa, Ms Sibongile Marks and three-year-old Melissa Marks.

Diwanga was recently granted conditional bail by Francistown High Court.

Prior to that, Diwanga had been remanded in custody while the court awaited further information from Namibia, where his alleged accomplice is incarcerated on a charge of entering the country illegally.

Another interesting murder case was that of Simon Kgowe (38), whose murder charge was recently withdrawn. Kgowe was in 2018 arrested on suspicions that he had killed his girlfriend, Elizabeth Kerekang.

The investigators alleged that Kgowe murdered Kerekang and dumped her headless body in Tlokweng. The deceased’s head was later discovered by some manual workers at Gaborone’s Block 7.

Another similar murder case that made headlines was that of Atlholang Mojanki, charged with the murder of former girlfriend Bokani Socks, who was nurse at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital, that continued before the Francistown High Court after pending for a long time.

Sometime this year, Mojanki through his attorney Kgololesego Segabo, lost an interlocutory application to appeal the ruling of a trial within a trial on the admissibility or inadmissibility of electronic evidence and the confession statement that Mojanki gave to Pastor Milidzani Sox of the Breath of Life Church.

Another case that resumed in the year under review was that of a Zimbabwean man, who was charged, together with a Motswana man, Ernest Legwale for the 2015 murder of Ms Thato Meswele in Oodi. The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charge but the trial is yet to review for continuation.

On December 02, a murder convict, Mr Mooketsi Kgosibodiba was executed. The 44-year-old of Shashe-Semotswane was executed following the death sentence which was imposed on him by the Francistown High Court on December 14, 2017 following a murder offence.

The High Court convicted Kgosibodiba for the murder of his employer, Mr Benjamin Makobela on February 02, 2012 at Makobo village. He later appealed the judgement, which was dismissed on the 27th July 2018 by the Court of Appeal.

Under accidents, nine people perished in a combi that was carrying 12 passengers along Rakops-Maun road 40 kilometres away from Rakops on October 27. Of the nine who died, seven were females while two were males and the rest sustained serious injuries. The 12 were travelling from Serowe to Maun to attend lobola negotiations.

Another fatal accident that left many speechless especially in the judiciary, is that of Magistrate Mogi Paya (34) and her six-year-old daughter, Areneilwe, who died in a horrific road accident in Dibete last month.

The duo were laid to rest in their home village of Bobonong on November 16, in a funeral that was attended by mourners amongst them, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, First Lady Neo Masisi, Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane, Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi, Assistant Minister of Agriculture Development and Food Security, Ms Beauty Manake and the area Member of Parliament, Mr Taolo Lucas.

On December 10, rail services were interrupted after a passenger train enroute from Gaborone to Francistown was involved in an accident. Two Botswana Railways crew members died in the accident between Pallaroad and Mahalapye. The passenger train had about 400 passengers, who were safely evacuated.

Among the several Corruption and money related offences cases that caught the attention of many this year was that involving the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Carter Morupisi, his wife Pinny Morupisi, and her company R7 Group.

Morupisi and his co-accused were slapped with charges of abuse of office, receiving a bribe and money laundering.

The PSP, who was admitted to a P10 000 bail, was later placed on indefinite suspension from work by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Then there was also the P250 million National Petroleum Fund (NPF) case in which Kenneth Kerekang, Bakang Seretse, Sadique Kebonang, Dr Zein Kebonang, Kago Stimela and Mogomotsi Seretse face several charges, including abuse of office, giving false information to a person employed in the public service, uttering a false document, theft and money laundering.

The accused persons sighed with relief when they were granted bail on August 22, soon after their case was committed to the High Court for trial. In a matter relating to the NPF case, the Kebonang brothers, through their lawyer, Unoda Mack have approached the high court, calling for the charges they were facing to be dropped.

The Gaborone High Court will hear arguments on the application for drop charges on February 20, 2020, while the main case was is still pending.
Former Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS) director general, Isaac Kgosi was mid this year dragged before court on charges of disclosing the identity of DIS agents and obstructing them in their course of duty.

While he was subsequently granted bail, he was at some point declared a fugitive after he violated one of his bail conditions by failing to report monthly to the police, while allegedly having travelled to Malaysia to seek medical treatment.

He finally came back in November and duly attended court, where his warrant of arrest was suspended by the Regional Magistrate (south). The case continues.

Still related to the spy agency, DIS computer programmer, Welheminah Maswabi appeared in court on charges of financing terrorism, possession of unexplained property and making a false declaration when applying for a passport.

After her attempts to be released on bail were denied by the Broadhurst Magistrates Court as well as by the High Court, Maswabi, codenamed “Butterfly” was finally admitted to bail in November.

Still during the course of the year, three Batswana, Lebogang Mhotsha, Poloko Seduke and Kefilwe Ramoitoi were charged with a single count of conspiracy to robbery in which they, together with six South African men, whose identities are not yet known, conspired to rob seven people among them Naledi Leburu, Albert Basinyi, Orapeleng Phetso and Rebaone Kgaditswe.ENDS