Lobatse High Court judge, Leatile Dambe, has issued a writ of execution to the tune of P1, 855,727 against the United States following a Court action brought before her by 12 of its former employees.
The 12 employees sued the United States government for failure to pay them their severance packages at the end of their contracts. Most of the twelve employees are nationals of Botswana.
The writ was issued after US lawyers had apparently failed to appear in Court to defend against the action on several occasions.
Asked if they are aware of the writ of execution issued against them by Justice Dambe, the United States Embassy’s Public Relations Officer, Laona Segaetsho, said, “The US embassy is aware of the law suit, however, we do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
All efforts to speak to the lawyer representing the employees, Otto Itumeleng, failed as he did not returned any of the calls we made to him. One of those affected said that she finds it very surprising that the US government, which is known for good human rights record, can treat its employees the way it is doing.
“That the US government is refusing to pay us is very surprising as the US has a good human rights record,” she said.