AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
BOTSWANA has enlisted the help of some of South Africa’s top legal minds to assist in the prosecution of that country’s former leading intelligence official, Welheminah Mphoeng Maswabi.
AfriForum, a civil society organisation, yesterday announced that its private prosecutions unit has been asked to assist with pre-trial proceedings of Maswabi.
Advocate Gerrie Nel, a former top prosecutor in SA’s National Prosecuting Authority will head the teams that consist of Advocate Phyllis Vorster (prosecutor) and Andrew Leask, chief investigator at the unit, to deal with the pre-trial proceedings in that country’s prosecution of Welheminah Mphoeng Maswabi.
According to AfriForum, various media reports by media publications in Botswana have made allegations that Maswabi had financed terrorism by shifting money that could be linked to the former chief spy of Botswana, Isaac Kgosi.
The organisation said Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe, wife of ex-minister Jeff Radebe and sister-in-law of President Cyril Ramaphosa, has also being accused in the media that she, together with Maswabi, was a co-signatory of accounts to the value of billions of pula.
Nel and Vorster were appointed last year by the government of Botswana to facilitate its request for mutual legal assistance in this matter regarding Motsepe-Radebe with the South African government.
“The failure by the South African government to accede to Botswana’s request for mutual legal assistance not only resulted in certain charges against Maswabi being withdrawn, but also caused conflict with regard to the matter in Botswana. It is a feather in the cap for members of the private prosecution unit and AfriForum to receive international recognition for the work we are doing. It gives recognition not only to the unique concept of private prosecution but also to the concept of putting capable prosecutors and investigators in one office so they can focus on the law without political pressure. The principle of equality before the law and prosecution without political interference was one of the main reasons for establishing the private prosecution unit and this should apply not only in South Africa but also internationally,” Adv. Nel said.
Nel also indicated that they still had received no feedback from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services in terms of the request for mutual legal assistance. The private prosecution unit in December 2020 announced that the department had failed to oppose the application aimed at forcing this department to render mutual legal assistance to the Botswana government. The application has been set down on the unopposed roll for 7 July 2021
Motsepe-Radebe has rejected the allegations against her and was cleared by a probe headed by top British lawyer Cherrie Blair.
