Slain ‘Fairgrounds CEO was gay, a druggie’
Sharon Mathala | Tuesday March 14, 2023 06:00
David was also the deceased’s attorney and at times business associate. His testimony is perhaps the first time the court heard a blow-by-blow account of the last days leading up to the death of Montshiwa, who was described as a 'secretive, private man' when it came to his dealings. Giving sworn evidence, David told the court about the relationship he had with the late CEO.
The murder-accused lawyer said he met Montshiwa through a mutual friend and they too began a friendship, one which later turned into a business relationship.
He said he handled most of the late CEO’s legal issues and sometimes financial matters too. Of particular interest, something which forms the basis of his charges is the sales agreement of a plot in Mogoditshane that Montshiwa had planned on buying. According to the accused, his client informed him of his intention to buy the plot, so as usual, he began the due diligence process to verify if the purchase was a legit investment. “Michael (Montshiwa) came to me with a proposal that he intends to procure a plot in Mogoditshane.
I said 'proposal' because I had to give him the green light. I looked into it and there was nothing amiss about the circumstances of buying the plot. I okayed the sale agreement.
He told me he was going to secure a loan from the bank to facilitate the purchase,” David explained. According to David, the plan slowed down because there was infighting in the family selling the plot. Whilst awaiting the finalisation of the deal, another business idea cropped up between the two buddies. According to David, he was into brokering on the side, which he did with another one of his business partners and friend by the name of Abobakwe Kgwarae. He says at some point Montshiwa developed an interest in their business. He explained to the court that the business involved linking sellers of particular commodities and buyers.
“He (Montshiwa) wanted a part of the action and so I linked him up with Abo (Kgwarae). Unfortunately, because the business is seasonal, nothing was moving,” he said. The murder-accused lawyer further told the court that Kgwarae and Montshiwa agreed to get into a business of their own. Kgwarae had introduced the idea to Montshiwa about a certain deal to buy and move cigarettes from South Africa (SA) to Zimbabwe. “He (Montshiwa) asked me if I approve of the business and asked what I think.
I told him returns are pretty high, but there is a bit of risk involved though it was good money. He said to me he can't be seen to be running around with these sorts of things.
He was the CEO of a reputable company and if anybody was to catch him in that sort of deal or if it were to be known he was involved in this type of business it would be bad for him,” David said, adding that he then took it upon himself to facilitate the ‘risky’ business on behalf of the late CEO. According to David’s version of events, Montshiwa was sceptical about the deal but the lawyer managed to convince the CEO it was a good one. As soon as the loan was granted, the pair paid for half of the plot whilst the rest was invested in the cigarette deal. The pair, according to David, agreed on an undisclosed amount as his (David's) share from the SA-Zimbabwe deal.
“The Zim deal was taking longer and at one of the meetings I had with Abo, I was very agitated and not happy with the speed at which the Zim transaction was moving. But it is at this meeting that Abo told me of very interesting details. Abo said to me, 'Ako o bue le mothaka wa gago a go bolelele gore ba dira eng.' (Loosely translated, 'Please speak to your friend, he should tell you what they are doing'). I asked him, 'What are you talking about?' He explained to me that during one of the meetings before the transactions, two other men that were giving him the runaround were introduced to Michael (Montshiwa). I just remember one of them as Martin. Martin was Zimbabwean and the other was Zambian. Abo told me that Michael was involved in some sort of relationship with the other guy,” David told the court. Asked to explain what he meant by ‘some sort of a relationship’, David answered "a gay relationship". According to David, Kgwarae told him that the two guys ‘were out of control’ and did not listen to him because they had direct access to the late CEO through an intimate relationship.
In front of a packed courtroom filled with the late CEO’s family and friends, David made further startling allegations that Montshiwa was a druggie who used cocaine. David said he then came up with a way to confront Montshiwa about what he had heard from Kgwarae as Kgwarae decided to tell the very person who introduced him to Montshiwa, David.
The accused claimed he had to be smart with what he knew because “in the streets, there is a code; you don't just blab about people's situation". Turning to the murder weapon and his involvement, David explained that indeed, he had had the desire to purchase a gun for himself but the one he found was unlicensed and so he didn't. He, however, said Kgwarae expressed interest in the weapon saying he knew of a way to legitimise the gun and so he (David) facilitated for his now late friend (Kgwarae) to buy the gun.
When buying the gun, David said they realised it had a fault. Turning to the night of the murder, David said after fixing the gun, they drove off to a secluded area to test the gun. He said during the day, he had spent the entire time drinking with two other friends. He said on the day the CEO was killed, he had driven to Montshiwa's house because they had a meeting.
He said, however, when he arrived at Montshiwa’s home he found him leaving for a hair appointment. He testified that it was the last time he saw his client and friend alive.
Later that night David said he met up with Kgwarae to hand over the gun to him after they had tested that it worked. He said he continued with his drinking and ignored Montshiwa's phone calls, who wanted them to meet again. According to the murder-accused lawyer, he was not "in a hurry to meet" the late CEO because whatever they were going to discuss depended on the Zim deal, which monies were to be deposited that week. Unfortunately, Montshiwa would not live to see his return on investment in the deal kept under wraps. “I ended up not seeing him [again] that day. I just remember that at some point in the night, my phone had gone off.
When I switched it back on I got a text from him asking if it was too late to meet. I recall I sent a message to him to reply that 'yes' it was late,” David said. According to David, he learnt of Montshiwa’s death the following morning. He added that he only drove to the scene of the crime where he met Montshiwa’s father and the police.
He said a week later he gave a statement to the police and was to be called as a witness. To his surprise, he said, sometime in December he was called by the Gaborone West police and upon arrival at the station, he was arrested for the murder of Montshiwa. “It has been unfortunate that I find myself here. It is still a dreamy situation because I don't understand how it can go this far.
I still don't understand why I am sitting here,” David told the court. Montshiwa was shot dead at his home in Block 6 back in October 2015, a case that stunned the nation. A year later, Kgwarae, a star witness in the Montshiwa murder trial, was also murdered following assault injuries to the head. Visit www.mmegi.bw for background reporting on the case.