Had I interfered, Balete wouldn’t have won - Masisi
Sharon Mathala | Monday March 13, 2023 06:00
This week, the Court of Appeal (CoA) upheld last year’s High Court’s decision to grant Bamalete ownership of the piece of land. “Let’s be honest, if I did interfere, they wouldn’t have won the case, if at all I had such powers. I never do that.
I am not interested in doing that.
I hardly ever speak to those judges, the time I ever see them the most is during the opening of the legal year,” he clarified.
Masisi has never publicly addressed the issue since Kgosi Mosadi Seboko of the Bamalete made allegations that he had interfered with the judiciary last year. Seboko told the media previously at the Balete main Kgotla that Masisi had declared to her that he has the power to meddle with the judiciary.
Kgosi Mosadi also said Masisi had told her that government did not intend to take the farm. She indicated that Masisi had promised to give Bamalete their land back should they lose the case at the highest court in the land.
Furthermore, Kgosi Mosadi said she was surprised to hear such statement from the President because in the same week, she had received court summons from the Attorney General (AG) and Malete Land Board that they want a title deed for the property through an appeal to the CoA.
At the time, Kgosi Mosadi claimed that President Masisi interfered with the judiciary and wanted to play the hero in the Balete and government matter. Subsequently, she raised alarm about Masisi’s alleged meddlesome hand in the affairs of the land.
Clearing the air on his meeting with Kgosi Mosadi at a press conference held yesterday, Masisi confirmed the meeting and stated that, “Whatever engagement I had with Kgosi Mosadi or anyone else would not in any way have had anything to do with the case. We never touched interfering with the judicial process. We would never in any way interfere with the judicial process.”
He said politically speaking as government, they had actually wanted and wished that Balete would get their land. “Simply because ba ne ba koleka, the historical record shows that ne ba koleka and even got a title deed for the land and whatever happened afterward was something else,” the President said.
Masisi further clarified that with his continued engagements with the Attorney General (AG) when seeking clarity on why they have appealed, he said the AG told him that there were other pieces of legislature that were affected by last year’s High Court judgment which granted Balete the land.
“They appealed to get clarity and finality to these things.
The AG had contacted me that they are studying the judgment. That they won for us we are no complaining but what this means going forward for other pieces of legislature is what is important,” he further stated.
Turning to the alleged interference of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, (DIS) with matters out side its purview Masisi answered, “The DIS like any other arm of government, when they have wronged you , you can seek redress, like with any organisation it has its challenges and successes. Our courts are independent.
They have lost cases like anyone else and have been admonished by the courts, there is no way the DIS can be out of control.”