UN Human Rights Committee exposes Botswna’s judicial lapses
No sanction yet for Sebina Councillor who impregnated minor
No criminal or disciplinary sanction has been imposed on a Councillor in Sebina who was accused of molesting and impregnating a 16 year old girl in 2016.
This gaffe not only haunted the Botswana team that appeared before the United Nations ( UN) Human Rights Committee on Civil and Political Rights in Switzerland, Geneva to articulate the country’s human rights record, but also exposed the deficiencies in the country’s judicial processes.
From the list of issues which Botswana received from the UN Human Rights Committee on Civil and Political Rights in 2018, Botswana was requested to respond to reports that a large number of school girls are subjected to sexual harassment and violence on their way to school.
On this score, the team’s response was that it is indeed true that no sanction whatsoever has been taken against the Councillor. The reason given was that the committee is still waiting for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions ( DPP) to determine whether to prosecute or to set the case aside on whatever reasons that he may find.
The Head of DPP, Stephen Tiroyakgosi could not be reached to defend his directorate. However, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Kabo Morwaeng, who headed the team, told this publication Tuesday at Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone that DPP is actively seized with the matter and assured that they “will speed it up”.
However, the Minister’s assurances notwithstanding, the five- year delay on the side of the DPP risks plunging the country’s international ranking into the doldrums as it not only compromises the Children’s Act but equally violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child ( CRC), which Botswana has ratified. Despite efforts by the state to improve the justice system by increasing institutions like the High Court in Maun and Gender Based Violence ( GBV) Specialised Courts, the DPP’s inaction is frustrating the justice system since it is the gateway to the courts.
There is serious public concern that there remains little to no prospects at all for the public in the justice system if a case involving a minor can await determination for five years. In fact, some are wondering whether the DPP’s inaction is fuelled by the fact that the Councillor in question belongs to the ruling party. They say if this is the case, it would justify untested claims that the executive branch of government has captured the judiciary. Botswana appeared before the UN Committee on October 20th and 21st, 2021. The proceedings were broadcast live on UN Web TV. As for the incessant calls by human rights organisations and the European Union for Botswana to abolish capital punishment, Minister Morwaeng reiterated that such a decision was for Batswana to make. And this can only be in a referendum, since the death penalty is a creature of statute. Hopefully, the envisaged constitutional review, which President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently committed to during his visit to Mmadinare, will settle this question once and for all.