Following growing fears that Botswana is under the grip of mafia style organized corruption, the Administration of Justice is on the verge of extending a 24 hour security surveillance service to a Gaborone-based Chief Magistrate Lot Moroka.
That would make Moroka the second officer of the Department of Justice to receive 24 hour security protection services.
A senior judge and former Attorney General, Ian Kirby, is currently under protection following advice from the Botswana Police Service Intelligence Unit that a hit man had been recruited to kill the respected judge.
Village Magistrates Court-based Lot Moroka has lately been in the limelight as a result of high profile cases handled by his court.
It all started last year when the DCEC (Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime) busted a corruption case involving a former Permanent Secretary in Government.
The case attracted unprecedented public attention not least because it was the first time the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime had investigated and charged a high profile personality of such a stature.
Elvidge Mhlauli was later convicted of corruption and sentenced to a seven year prison term.
During the lengthy proceedings, the court heard evidence from many witnesses incriminating a number of the country’s top business elite.
This led observers to the conclusion that Botswana was under the grip of a mafia style kind of organised corruption.
The Registrar of the High Court Godfrey Nthomiwa was not available to comment on the reasons behind Magistrate Lot Moroka being favoured with such a rare high profile security attention.
For his part Moroka would also not comment, instead referring all enquiries to the Registrar.
“I don’t think it would be proper for me to talk about such sensitive issues. The best person placed to deal with such items would be the Registrar of the High Court,” said Chief Magistrate Moroka.
Without giving reasons Moroka has recently had to recuse himself from yet another high profile case involving prominent Botswana National Front parliamentary hopeful Gabriel Kanjabanga.
Among other things, the Gaborone-based lawyer is accused of fraud, forgery and corruption.
Moroka is also handling the case of forgery involving three of the country’s most prominent lawyers; Tengo Rubadiri, Tiro Lyndon Mothusi and Herbert Sikhakhane.
The trio are accused of defrauding the government of an amount in excess of P2 million.
An even more potentially serious case handled by Lot Moroka is the one involving Former Debswana Managing Director Louis Nchindo.
Together with his son Garvas, Nchindo and two former Debswana senior executives, Joe Matome and Jacob Sesinyi, are accused of close to thirty counts ranging from fraud, corruption and false pretence.
