Botswana murder suspect shelters in ‘safe haven’ SA
No deportation until Botswana vows not to execute
A “GAP” in South African policy has enabled a Botswana national to avoid deportation, despite being arrested here for robbery and being wanted in his home country for murder.
The Department of Home Affairs was rapped over the knuckles by the high court two years ago for ignoring a court order preventing Edwin Samotse, 28, from being extradited to face charges of killing his girlfriend. The order was made because South Africa had not received an undertaking from Botswana that he would not face the death penalty. The minister of justice forbade Samotse’s deportation until Botswana gave such an assurance
Samotse escaped from Botswana and returned to South Africa, where he has been arrested on four counts of robbery.
Home affairs has labelled the development “explosive and dangerous”. A spokesman said: “This is an individual who has shown disdain for the laws of his own country and South Africa . . . We want to have the best talent and not the worst the world has to offer.”
A BOTSWANA national who was wrongly sent back to his home country to face a possible death sentence on a murder charge has found his way back to South Africa and been arrested for robbery.
This development has been labelled as “explosive and dangerous” by the Department of Home Affairs, which was censured for unlawfully extraditing him two years ago.
In 2010 Edwin Samotse, 28, allegedly stabbed his girlfriend to death in Francistown and fled to South Africa where he was arrested in March 2011.
After his arrest and a legal wrangle, three home affairs employees unlawfully handed him over to Botswana authorities, ignoring a court order. The high court declared his deportation — which occurred without an undertaking from the Botswana government that Samotse would not face a death sentence — unlawful.
This week the Sunday Times established that Samotse was arrested in Limpopo in March last year for robbery.
But he may not be handed over to the Botswana government, as the 2014 court order still stands and so far Botswana has flatly refused to give an undertaking that he will not be sentenced to death.
Should Samotse be acquitted in South Africa, or is released after serving a sentence, the authorities will be powerless to deport him.
“This is an individual who has proven disdain for the laws of his own country and South Africa and we obviously worry what he will do. We want . . . to have the best talent and not the worst the world has to offer,” said home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete.
“On this particular issue finding each other [Botswana and South Africa] has been a bit tougher.”
A legal precedent was set by the Constitutional Court in 2001 when it found the government had acted unlawfully in handing over Tanzanian fugitive Khalfan Khamis Mohamed to the US, where he faced the death penalty, without first seeking assurances that he would not be executed. Mohamed, one of four suspects in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, was eventually sentenced to life in prison.
Samotse has escaped twice in Botswana and once in South Africa and is awaiting trial in Polokwane Prison on four counts of robbery. He is due back in court on May 24.
Police spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said it was established through Interpol that Samotse was a wanted man in Botswana. “All of these robberies happened [between March 4 and 25] at a hiking spot at Hwibi and he targeted women . . . at knifepoint.”
Justice department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said no new request for extradition had been received from Botswana.
Lawyers for Human Rights strategic litigation head David Cote said the issue of Samotse’s status pointed to a gap in South African policy.
But the claim that South Africa was becoming a safe haven for people fleeing death sentences could not be supported by fact. “We’re not saying these people should not face justice, but if they’re going to be returned to their country of origin they should not face the death penalty.”
Tshwete said his department had raised its concerns in the courts. “This means you have individuals who pose a further threat to South Africans and are being protected from justice in their own countries,” he said.
The new Extradition Bill provides for extra-territorial jurisdiction to enable South Africa to prosecute a fugitive for crimes committed elsewhere should extradition not be an option.
❛ We want South Africa to have the best talent and not the worst the world has to offer