A judge in a South African High Court in Pretoria has ordered that country’s Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola to assist Botswana Government with its request for Mutual Legal Assistance in the Bank of Botswana (BoB) P100 billion fraud and money laundering matter.
Botswana through the Director Public Prosecutions had requested for Mutual Legal Assistance from the Department of International Relations and cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa but the request was allegedly ignored.
The DPP which was represented by the private prosecutions unit of Afriforum had filed an application requesting that the Department must perform their duty and inform the Botswana government concerning the status of its request for Mutual Legal Assistance.
On 7 July 2021 Justice de Vos granted the application and the result is that the Department of Justice must provide the information within 14 days and must bear the costs of the lawsuit. The matter is linked to a case before Botswana courts in which former President Ian Khama, founding head of Intelligence Services Isaac Kgosi and agent Wilhelmina Maswabi (also known as Butterfly) are accused of embezzling P100 billion from the Bank of Botswana. The DPP claims some of the funds found their way into South African banks hence the request for Mutual Legal Assistance from South African authorities to trace the alleged stolen money. South African business woman Bridgette Motsepe is also implicated in the saga. The quartet has since denied the allegations.
According to Afriforum which is representing the DPP, it has achieved success in the application brought against the Department of Justice. In a statement, the unit said it filed the application by order of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Botswana on 14 August 2020 wherein it was requested that the Department must merely perform their duty and inform the Botswana government concerning the status of its request for Mutual Legal Asistance that was already filed on 25 September 2019 by the Botswana DPP.
Afriforum said failure thus led to the DPP Botswana being forced to drop a charge against Wilhelminah Maswabi because they were unaware of the progress of their request.
It says on 25 August 2020 the Minister of Justice indicated in a media statement that in spite of the good relationship between the Department and the provision of Mutual Legal Assistance in other cases, this case will be opposed.
“This statement was merely an empty threat as no opposing documents were filed by the government. The application was then placed on the unopposed roll for 7 July 2021 in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. Outside the time earmarked for the filing of opposing documents, government in April 2021 filed a notice to oppose but did not oppose,” the statement says.
It says on 2 July 2021 a letter was received from the state attorney that the government was willing to provide the necessary cooperation. The Department requested that the matter be struck off the roll with a view to a round table talk between the parties in order to settle the matter.
“In a letter to the Department on 5 July 2021 it was indicated that we will agree if the talk takes place before the court date of 7 July 2021. On 6 July 2021 at midnight a message was received that the government is withdrawing their request and will continue to oppose the application,” reads the statement.
It states that on 7 July 2021 the judge granted the application and the result is that the Department of Justice must provide the information within 14 days and must bear the costs of the lawsuit.
The organisation quotes its head of private prosecution Gerrie Nel as saying “Experience has now taught us that the government will hardly do the right thing on their own initiative. It is becoming the norm and not the exception that the government is forced through court orders to perform their work.”
According to Nel, “In spite of the economical realities the Department of Justice is now burdened with costs orders that they could have prevented by merely doing their duty. This is the third successful mandamus application brought by this unit against the government in circumstances where government authorities did not do their duties. In all three instances costs orders were granted.”
