Former Debswana Company Secretary, Joseph Matome, who is currently serving a three-year jail term for fraud and corruption, will, on the 23 of November, take another trip to Lobatse High Court where his application for bail is scheduled to be heard.
His appeal could not be heard on Friday because his trial record had not yet reached Lobatse High Court judge Stephen Gaongalelwe, who is presiding over the matter.
On Thursday, Matome resigned from his position as Chairman of Kalahari Conservation Society.
”As you are aware, the Southern Regional Magistrate recently found me guilty of various criminal offences,” Matome wrote in a letter to the Society, announcing his resignation. “While I continue to maintain my innocence of any such offences, I am in the process of appealing against the judgement in the High Court of Botswana. I believe it would be in the best interests of the Society that I resign from the position of Chairman, which I hereby regrettably do.”
The resignation has since been accepted by the Society.
In accepting Matome’s resignation, its Chief Executive Officer stated that the society owes a great debt of gratitude to Matome for his 17 years of dedication and commitment to the ideals of KCS and to conservation in Botswana in general and wished Matome the best of luck in future.
During mitigation in his trial, Matome’s former Vice Chairman, Neil Fitt, who has since been appointed acting Chairman, mitigated on behalf of Matome, telling the Court about Matome’s dedication to the Society and the amount of work he did for no pay.
