Grieving widow fights for justice
Sharon Mathala | Monday March 13, 2023 06:00
It was only until the next morning when she found out that the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) employee who had been killed and was trending on social media was actually her husband.
The grieving widow has now instituted legal proceedings against the Botswana Police Service (BPS), Attorney General and the Minister of Defence and Security for killing her husband.
Recalling the events of the fateful Friday evening she says: “I learnt through social media of a trending story. I read that there was a shootout and that robbers had been killed. I know my husband for sure is an honest man and not a robber so I would have never thought he was caught up in the crossfire.” Struggling to catch her breath as she speaks to Mmegi this week, the widow says she had tried calling her husband and as his phone first rang unanswered and ultimately switched off, she did not have the slightest idea that he was dead. “I spent the whole of Friday night trying to reach my husband, but his phones were off. I didn’t know my husband passed on but almost the whole country knew,” she says sobbing.
She continues: “Saturday morning, I received a call from my husband’s uncle, he asked me where my mother was and I told him that she was here with me and he asked me to give her my phone. He told my mother that the person who is trending on Facebook who got killed at Sefalana was my husband.” Her husband, Kebadirile Dikago (37) who at the time of death was a CEDA employee, had gone to Sefalana for shopping. He was shot multiple times by the police. The police had raided the store to intercept a cash-in-transit (CIT) in progress after they received a tip-off.
Five people, three alleged robbers and two innocent citizens, including Dikago, were shot dead at the scene. “We were married for only two beautiful years. We got married in October 2020. We were only starting our life as a married couple and now he has been taken away from me,” the grieving widow further said. “My husband was a loving person, he brought joy to our home; he was respectful and believed in family values. He was a hard worker and a giver. He would rather starve and provide for others. He believed in justice and I know what I am doing now is exactly what he would have done for me,” she tells Mmegi. According to the widow, as she struggles to move on with her life, the State can only tell her they are still investigating. “The only thing I have been told is that they are still investigating.
I was not told anything after the postmortem was completed. Only given a paper written that cause of death was multiple gunshots wounds. No justice has been served yet,” she said. Asked to confirm if she was suing the State, the troubled widow answered in the affirmative. “My life has changed, it has stopped, my husband had beneficiaries who now I am unable to take care of because he is not here with everything that he provided us with; it's a mess,” she said. The grieving widow is looking for justice. She believes her husband's life was brutally cut short and there has been no explanation and her life has dramatically changed.