THE FALL OF MATSHEKA

If charged, suspension might follow

MEMBER of Parliament for Lobatse and former Minister of Finance, Thapelo Matsheka, was arrested on Tuesday night and locked up at Tlokweng Police Station for interrogation concerning the death of Tlotso Karema, a seven-year-old boy who went missing and was found dead recently.

Matsheka had joined three other suspects who were nabbed earlier this week. At the time of going to press on Wednesday, Matsheka was yet to be released from custody since his arrest had occurred on Tuesday evening.

His lawyer, Dick Bayford, told The Voice in an interview that although he was sent from pillar to post in search of his client, he finally located him at around midday on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t really given the opportunity to consult because the officers had indicated that they needed to take him (Matsheka) to some place to close up their investigations so they could release him,” Bayford said.

Asked to explain further, Bayford said that the DIS officers told him that they had detained his client in connection with the missing Lobatse young boy but they had not yet charged him.

Reached for comment, both the Police and DIS spokespersons, Near Bagali and Robert Edward, refused to elaborate on Matsheka’s arrest and restricted themselves to confirming that they had four people in their custody helping with investigations in the Tlotso Karema case.

For his part, the ruling BDP mouthpiece, Kagalelo Kentse, said that the BDP will only take a position once they have received full details of Matsheka’s arrest.

“If it is true that he has been arrested, it is still very early to say what action would possibly be taken by the party because there must be a process that should be allowed to happen. We only suspend if someone is facing criminal charges. Until he is charged formally, if ever the questioning leads to something, only then can we act on it,” Kentse said.

Asked if the party is concerned by the recent spate of criminal investigations involving senior members of the BDP, Kentse said, “Well, any sane person would be worried, but, as I said concerning this matter, we are yet to receive a detailed report on it, and once we do, we will take the necessary steps as we have done in the past.”

Asked if the BDP would suspend Matsheka, especially since he was likely to face a serious charge, Kentse said, “I suspect the party will, if at all he is charged with murder or colluding to commit murder. The power to suspend an MP lies with the president, but murder is a serious offence that the party would not take lightly.”