Balete judgment postponed
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday February 14, 2023 13:32
The Court of Appeal (CoA) was supposed to deliver judgment on the case on Friday. However, Registrar of CoA Nomsa Moatswi wrote a letter to Bamalete lawyers Motlhala and Co yesterday to inform them about the court’s decision to postpone judgment to a later date yet to "be communicated to the parties".
“The parties are advised that the judgment in the matter will no longer be delivered on February 17,” reads the letter Moatswi authored.
It is the second postponement as the case was moved to the January CoA session last year. The case has been tainted by controversy since Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, the Kgosikgolo of Ba Ga-Malete, claimed that President Mokgweetsi Masisi interfered with the judiciary and wants to play the hero in the matter. Kgosi Mosadi at the time last year set tongues wagging when she made the allegations before the media a few days before their first CoA appearance in the last session.
Kgosi Mosadi revealed then that Masisi had promised to give Bamalete their land back should they lose the case at the highest court in the land. She exposed Masisi’s meddling hand in the affairs of the land saying she will never keep quiet or be part of the ‘never mind’ ilk to save her skin.
Last month the matter was finally heard and both lawyers delivered their arguments. The state based its main argument on the decision of the CoA in the 2011 Quarries of Botswana case. State lawyer, Advocate Sidney Pilane indicated that the High Court had no power to interfere when it handed the land rights to Bamalete in last year’s judgment.
Bamalete through their counsel, Geoff Budlender pointed out that the contention by the state that the CoA determined the constitutionality of the farm’s acquisition in the Quarries of Botswana and that the tribe is precluded from raising it, in this case, is incorrect. He said it was 'incorrect' as the breach of the tribe’s rights and consequentially the constitutionality of the legislative scheme was never challenged before or considered by the CoA.