Sources behind the so-called “People’s Court” have revealed that some of those who have provided evidence about the “rigging” of the 2019 general election are civil servants who participated in the election in an official capacity.
Such evidence is to be presented before an opposition-inspired forum that has been dubbed the People’s Court by its sponsors – the Umbrella for Democratic Change, Botswana People’s Front and the Alliance for Progressives.
The People’s Court should have sat last weekend but couldn’t because the lawyer overseeing it had to attend to an urgent family matter. Resultantly, the Court was postponed and will go ahead when everything else is in place. According to the Court’s publicity manager, Moeti Mohwasa, evidence (some of it in the form of sworn affidavits) will be presented before a forum that will function like a proper Roman-Dutch law court.
Sunday Standard learns from good sources within the tripartite alliance behind the Court that there will be evidence presented on behalf of a special group of witnesses who can’t themselves appear in person because that would jeopardise their job security.
These are civil servants who work for the Independent Electoral Commission as well as security officers, some members of the Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS) and others of the Botswana Police Service. DIS officers, some of whom are said to be disgruntled, reportedly have comprehensive photographic evidence of the rigging. If such sources do indeed exist, the People’s Court will hold the nation spellbound for as long as it is live-streamed on Facebook from a Gaborone location.
On the downside, whatever information will be provided on behalf of IEC and DIS officers will not meet evidentiary standards that a Roman-Dutch law court requires. The sources will not be named and not having made sworn affidavits, what they say will be mere allegations. As Sunday Standard stated last week, the parties that are being accused of having rigged the election (namely the Botswana Democratic Party and IEC) will essentially be tried in absentia and haven’t been invited to participate.
Allegations about the rigging have persisted from Day One. A day after Chief Justice Terence Rannowane announced the BDP as the winner of what was expected to be a historically close election, former president and BPF founder, Ian Khama, alleged that the election had been rigged. In a video that floated around social media following the election, he said that he would ask UDC president, Duma Boko, to challenge the results. Sure enough, Boko would later also allege rigging and engage a South African forensics examiner to investigate.
All along the AP has never associated itself with talk about the rigging. The situation has changed because at a joint press conference to announce the People’s Court, the party was represented by Margaret Nasha, who has served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, cabinet minister in various portfolios and Speaker of the National Assembly. Another AP official associated with the People’s Court is Major General Mokgware, the former Gabane-Mankgodi MP, who has taught security studies at the University of Botswana.
