COURT REINSTATES FIRED COP
Cop was dismissed for saying, “Ian is a cross of a Boer, Mosarwa and Mongwato”
THE Lobatse High Court has thrown an egg in the face of Police Commissioner, Keabetswe Makgophe, who had dismissed a cop - Desmond Mokgele, for allegedly saying former President, Ian Khama, killed prominent politician, Gomolemo Motswaledi.
Mokgele and another were charged and fired from duty for allegedly uttering the words, “Ian ke cross ya Leburu, Mosarwa le Mongwato. Le gone ba thula batho ka dikoloi, motho yo o bolaya batho, ke ene a bolaileng Motswaledi. (‘Ian is a cross of a Boer, a Mosarwa and a Mongwato and they knock down people with vehicles, he kills people and he is the one who killed Motswaledi’ - or words to that effect).
According to the charge sheet, after uttering those words, a week later, when confronted by their superiors, the two accused did not retreat.
On count two, the charge sheet reads that “On 30th September, 2014 at Mabutsane Police station acting jointly together in common purpose, both used disrespectful words to a police officer senior in rank to them whereby the following words were uttered to Mr Baatweng; ‘ Lepodisi le la kgotla le a tlwaela, rona re bo comrade ga o a rutega’.”
According to facts of the case, on October 6th, 2014, Mokgele and another were then suspended from work pending the outcome of the disciplinary hearing which was then set for November 26th, 2014.
ILLEGAL
After fighting a bitter court battle with his former employer, Mokgele walked out victorious. The court order, seen by The Voice, reads; “The decision to dismiss the applicant from the Botswana Police Service is procedurally untenable and illegal and is as such reviewable and set aside.”
Lobatse High Court Judge, Mercy Gaarekwe, then ordered that; “The first respondent (The Commissioner of Police) is directed to reinstate the applicant to his former position in the Botswana Police Service and to pay him all his full dues from the time he was interdicted to date of reinstatement.”
Mokgele had approached the Lobatse High Court arguing that the conviction and sentence by the disciplinary board had no legal basis.
He further successfully argued that the Police did not fully disclose the names of the person he is alleged to have offended.
“The only reference to the name in the particulars of the offence is the word Ian. Therefore, when the witnesses testified that it referred to the former President of Botswana when the particulars do not disclose this fact is inadequate for purposes of conviction by the disciplinary board.”
“The same applies to reference in the particulars of the offence to ‘ motho yo o bolaya batho’. There is no reference at all to the former President, Ian Khama, in the phrase,” he argued.