Lobatse magistrate Cele Lebakeng appeared briefly before the Gaborone Regional magistrate court South facing a single count of threat to kill.
The department of Administration of Justice is under pressure to suspend the magistrate who is still in office despite facing a criminal charge.
According to the charge sheet, the accused person Lebakeng aged 34 on or about the 16th of July 2014, at Woodhall police station in Lobatse without any lawful excuse┬ácaused one, Utlwanag Mokoe, to┬á receive a threat to her life by uttering the following words “ke tla go gasa ka metsi a kereke o bo oswa,gape┬á ke tla go betsa ka lore lwame la kereke mo gare ga tlhogo┬á o boo swa.”
The accused person’s attorney Aobakwe Monamo told the court that he needed enough time to go and study the charge sheet .
Lebakeng is expected to appear again before court on the 15th of next month where he is expected to take a plea.
The Directorate of Public Persecution is represented by Keletso Kgathi.
Meanwhile former Lobatse police station commander superintendent Leoto Ramabokwa is suing government after magistrate Lebakeng  jailed him for two nights.
“It is true that I am suing government after unlawful detention by the Lobatse magistrate,” he said.
This follows the magistrate’s instruction that the station commander should appear before her after one of his officers went to court without a proper uniform.
It is said that when Ramabokwa met with the magistrate to answer why his officer was not dressed properly, the two had a misunderstanding, and Ramabokwa walked out in anger which resulted in issuance of a warrant of arrest by the magistrate for ‘disobedience of lawful orders’.
The chairman of Botswana Law Society Lawrence Lecha said that once a civil servant is criminally charged and has appeared before the court of law, the expectation is that such person should be interdicted from his or her official duties, but in this particular case we shall see what is likely to happen because no one is above the law.
