Kgosi defence accuse State of seeking an appeal against bail
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday November 2, 2021 14:45
The team comprising of senior attorneys Unoda Mack and Thabiso Tafila yesterday when appearing before the Gaborone High Court Judge, Michael Motlhabi to defend the State application said State wanted to appeal the matter but rushed to court on reasons that it was a review for the bail ruling.
According to Mack, the State has no reason to be seeking a review against Village Magistrate Lindiwe Makgoro’s bail ruling on Kgosi because she was following the rule of law. “There is nothing to review about the ruling, in fact, this is an appeal disguised as a review. The Magistrate was following the law when deciding on the matter,” he said.
On the issue that the State wants a different Magistrate on Kgosi’s next court appearance, Mack questioned the State on reasons why they sought that. He accused the State of maybe wanting a different judicial officer who will be biased because there was nothing that the current judicial officer did which was wrong. Mack explained that the Magistrate’s ruling was based on the active law and she treated Kgosi as an innocent man until he is prosecuted for the alleged charges and being found guilty. “As the Magistrate said, Kgosi is an innocent man until proven otherwise and where is the evidence that he will interfere with witnesses? The State cannot base their reasons on fear and speculation,” he said.
On the other hand, the State was seeking for Kgosi to be jailed for at least 14 days while investigations are continuing into the charges he is facing. The State attorney Sifelani Thapelo told court that they believe the Magistrate was wrong in granting the ex-spy chief bail as he might interfere with investigations. According to Thapelo, Kgosi is an influential person and he might have access to witnesses and temper with investigations. “The Magistrate was wrong to grant a person of Kgosi’s calibre bail while investigations are still at infancy. He is influential and we believe he can easily interfere with investigations,” he said. The State further sought for Kgosi’s bail to be reviewed in the event that he remains on bail.
Among others they (State) want his bail condition to be raised to P30,000 while two of his sureties provide P20, 000.00 each and his passport taken. Meanwhile, Kgosi was released from custody sometime last week after three days of being held at the Special Support Group cells.
The State had moved an application for Kgos,i who is accused of undermining the National Security of the country, to be remanded in custody to allow investigations to be carried out. However, Magistrate Makgoro refused the State’s application on grounds that they failed to produce any evidence related to their assertion that the former intelligence boss might escape trial or even interfere with investigations. She explained that Kgosi was a citizen of Botswana and as such he will accord the rights given to all citizens. “He is a citizen; he has rights and such his rights will be protected.
He has not been convicted of the charges he is facing and he will be treated innocent until proven guilty,” she said. Magistrate Makgoro also explained that Kgosi could not be held in custody simply because the State has fears about his release.
The ruling on the review application is this Friday at 3pm.