DAWN DISMISSAL Mokgethi wins contempt of court war
Judge Michael Leburu of Gaborone High court has dismissed Dawn Masenya’s application in a matter which she wanted the court to punish Minister Annah Mokgethi for disobeying court orders.
Leburu struck out the application saying at the time it was filed, it lacked ripeness, translating into a lack of justiciability.
Masenya had approached the court arguing that Mokgethi had failed to fully and satisfactorily account for her grandfather’s estate.
The wealthy old man Abdul Joseph died in 2012. Mokgethi was her executrix. Joseph’s estate according to court papers prepared by Mokgethi is worth over P20 million.
Delivering his judgment last week, Leburu said an order was made by Judge Godfrey Nthomiwa in May 2020 instructing Mokgethi to fully account for Joseph’s estate.
Dissatisfied with the order, Mokgethi appealed the order in July 2020.
In August 2020, Masenya lodged the contempt of court application, saying Mokgethi was willingly disobeying Nthomiwa’s order.
On the 6th August 2021, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mokgethi upholding Nthomiwa’s order, and further granted her an extension of up to September 2021 to comply with the High Court order.
“The 2nd respondent’s (Mokgethi) point of departure is simple to comprehend. She has submitted that the contempt of court application was lodged with the high court on 14th August 2020.
“The Court of Appeal extended the deadline for compliance to the 7th September 2021, and thus rendering the contempt application not ripe for adjudication,” Leburu said.
What it now means is that Masenya has lost twice to Mokgethi in the contempt of court war.
In May this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed Masenya saying that there are disputes of facts between Masenya and Mokgethi and the disputes may require oral evidence to resolve and it will not be a suitable exercise for an appellant court.
COA said it operates as a court of last resort, meaning that if any of the parties were not happy, they had to be given an opportunity to appeal and that is where COA comes in.
However, it is not all over with the Masenya-Mokgethi war. The case in which the validity of Joseph’s 2010 signed Will is being challenged is still before the court and continues in September. It is at the September session that Member of Parliament and former Judge Unity Dow will tell the court where she found the 2003 signed Will belonging to Joseph and his wife Doreen.
When Masenya brought the case to court in 2013 challenging Joseph’s Will, Mokgethi had shown Joseph’s family a Will that belonged only to Joseph.