Matsheka sues DIS, Police for P10.7m
☛ MP seeks vindication ☛ Says DIS has no legal authority to investigate murder ☛ Rule of Law at the centre of the proceedings
In a new twist Member of Parliament for Lobatse Dr. Thapelo Matsheka has informed the Attorney General of his intention to sue the Directorate of Intelligence Services and the Botswana Police Service for damages amounting to over P10.7 million.
The lawsuit is based on Dr. Matsheka’s arrest and detention from August 2 to August 7th 2022. The MP who is also former Minister of Finance is represented by attorney Dick Bayford’s law firm, Bayford and Associates.
The law firm issued a Statutory Notice last Friday that they will seek various reliefs from the High Court that are aimed more at asserting the Rule of Law than the personal damages sought by their client, though the damages sought are considerable.
The notice seen by Botswana Guardian informs the Attorney General that Matsheka will launch court proceedings and seek orders declaring that his arrest and detention was unlawful; that the DIS has no authority under any law to conduct investigations into an allegation of murder; that the conduct of the DIS officers of bringing Matsheka into court in shackles was unlawful and intended to lower his reputation in the eyes of the public; that the insistence of the DIS officers in placing Matsheka in the accused dock when he was not a suspect was unlawful.
Bayford argues in the letter that in terms of Section 21 ( 1) of the Intelligence and Security Act, the DIS officers who arrested Dr. Matsheka did not have power to effect the said arrest in that, an officer or support staff authorised in that behalf by the Director General of DIS is only empowered, without warrant, to arrest a person if he or she reasonably suspects that, that person has committed or is about to commit an offence provided for in the Intelligence and Security Service Act.
“The offence of murder is not an offence under the Act,” the letter says.
In the intended legal action to be brought before the High Court, Dr. Matsheka will seek judgment directing that “the Government of Botswana pay the plaintiff damages in the sum of P10 720 000,” reads the letter dated 19 August 2022 from Bayford to the Attorney General.
Dr. Matsheka will be seeking P2 million for unlawful arrest; P3 million for unlawful detention; P4 million as damages for the act of placing leg shackles on him which he argues was wrongful, unlawful and injurious; and P1 million as damages for being made to sit in the accused dock when he was not an accused person.
Other damages sought amount to P720 000, which the letter says is for loss of earnings, and legal expenses.
The Statutory Notice states how the DIS operatives deliberately sought to discredit Dr. Matsheka by seeking to parade him in shackles in and out of court and placing him in the accused dock thereby portraying him as a criminal, while in fact he had not been charged with any offence. The conduct of the DIS was deliberate and intended to demean the Lobatse MP, the letter reads.
Botswana Guardian sought Matsheka’s comment on the intended legal proceeding but he declined to comment indicating that the Notice speaks for itself, and that further questions should be addressed to his legal team.
In an interview, Attorney Dick Bayford said his client, through the Court proceedings seeks not only to have his name cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing but also seeks to restore the rule of law.
“This administration has made the ‘ rule of law’ its rallying cry, yet under its watch has allowed the DIS to act unlawfully and with impunity,” Bayford said, adding that the intrusion into all aspects of investigations, government administration and politics by the DIS needs to be curtailed and confined to its legal mandate . He said such curtailment can only be done through affected individuals, who maintain their principles and genuinely believe in the Rule of Law, by challenging the DIS’s abuse of authority in court.
“Those who genuinely believe in the rule of law need to stand fast and act and not pay mere lip service to principles that define our democracy”.
Under the past and present administrations, the DIS has a history of intervention into government administration and politics. Political pundits view the arrest and detention of Dr. Matsheka as a ploy to embarrass and curtail the aspirations of “internal opponents” within the BDP in the lead- up to this weekend’s elective congress in Tsabong. Dr. Matsheka was arrested and detained on the 2nd of August 2022 on allegations that the DIS was conducting “investigations” into the whereabouts of Tlotso Karema - a Lobatse standard one pupil - who disappeared on the 18th of March 2022.
Matsheka was later released through a court order. Bayford says since then, his client has neither been charged for any wrongdoing nor called for further questioning.