Kebonang Frees Zimbabwean Jailed To Four-Years Term

While most Zimbabweans who are in the country illegally are deported by police and immigration officials without even going to courts, for Benson Hlabangana it was a different story as Magistrate Gaseitsiwe Tonoki of Broadhurst Magistrate Court sentenced him to four years in jail and fined him P4, 000. Hlabangana had from June 2014 to December 2017 remained in Botswana for more than 90 days. He was also charged with entering the country through an ungazzeted point, a charge that was later withdrawn.

Pending his appeal, Hlabangana’s attorney Howard Tainton filed an urgent application with the High Court to have him freed as he was tried and convicted with a wrong section of the law. Instead of focussing on the application before him, Kebonang was quick to label the sentence a miscarriage of justice.