Civil imprisonment detainees gobble P17m from public coffers
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday March 30, 2026 06:00
The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Nelson Ramaotwana, told Parliament this week that the cost of maintenance on a debtor who has been sent to prison is P105 per person per day.
Ramaotwana was responding to a question from Member of Parliament for Kgatleng West, Dr Unity Dow who asked the Minister to state: how many people were detained under the civil imprisonment for failure to pay their debts during the years 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022, 2023; 2024 and 2025; what the cost per day to the creditor civil imprisonment for debt is; what the cost per day to government civil imprisonment for debt is; and whether he considers it necessary to review the law and procedures regulating the civil imprisonment for failure to pay debt.
Ramaotwana also explained that civil imprisonment is where a person who owes another is committed to prison at the instance of a judgment and writ in favour of a judgment creditor or the person owed. Such a writ, he explained, is issued under Order 53 of the High Court Rules and Orders.
The minister stated that there have been 3820 debtors detained in prison from 2019 to 2025, with their maintenance gobbling P17,707,620.00 from the public coffers. In 2019, there were 436 detainees, 239 in 2020, 2021 had 516, 2022 had 635, 2023 had 737 detainees, 2024 had 766 and 2025 had 491 detainees.
'The debtors were in detention for 168,644 days for which the judgment creditors were to pay P252,966.00 at P1.05 per person per day. The sum of P252,966.00 was expected from judgment creditors, and only P59,689.15 has been paid,' Ramaotwana said.
Ramaotwana stated that this shows challenges associated with enforcing obligations of judgment creditors, given that payment of maintenance costs is not a condition precedent to admission of judgment debtors to Prison.
'This is a heavy burden on the public for prisoners detained at the instance of judgment creditors. Mr Speaker, the law on civil imprisonment presents several challenges as shown above. To this end, my Ministry will review the law and bring it before Parliament for appropriate legislative action,' he added.
Boko has in the past raised concern about civil imprisonment, saying it continues to be abused to punish impecunious individuals, and the courts have been enlisted to participate in these egregious violations of law.
Speaking during the BNF annual conference in 2023 before he assumed the presidency, Boko said the heavy and crushing household debt in Botswana, which stands at around P60 billion, has decimated families and shattered whole communities. He said as a result of the disturbing phenomenon, the egregious use of civil imprisonment has emerged, in which the courts and the justice system have been complicit.
“The weapon of civil imprisonment for debt has become entrenched and the courts have allowed themselves to be willing participants in the violation of people’s human rights by recklessly issuing warrants for imprisonment of indigent and impecunious individuals for the simple reason that the lashings of poverty have rendered them unable to service the debts they have been forced into,” Boko was quoted by this publication then.