Court of Appeal judges have upheld an appeal brought before them by Quarries of Botswana, following the dismissal of their case, which demanded that Gamalete Development Trust, Tshepho Phuthego and Bashi Buti be interdicted from preventing Botswana Quarries from using the road over Forest Hill.
The three were also ordered to pay costs of the case.
The judges of the Court of Appeal said that, after studying all the facts surrounding the case, they had come to a conclusion that all three respondents had acted unlawfully in so far as they prevented Botswana Quarries use of road over Forest Hill and that Botswana Quarries should have been granted a final interdict against them.
On whether any restraint should be ordered against Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, the judges said that neither she nor anybody representing the tribe had any part in the road closure.
They said Seboko joined on the ownership issue, which they said was reasonable step, but that the issue was already the major one in the litigation and that her involvement did not enlarge the ambit of the case.
They further said that it would be a proper exercise of discretion vested in the Court and the court below to exclude Seboko from the costs order. The judges said that Gamalete Land Board was joined on appeal in relation to the ownership issue and that it did not seek, at any stage, to obtain relief against Botswana Quarries and did not ask for costs against it.
Gamalete Land Board, the judges further said, had had the opportunity to consider the possible exercise of its powers in relation to regulation of the use of Mokolodi road over Forest Hill.
