Mmegi lensman assaulted

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Wednesday June 24, 2009 00:00

Moreri Sejakgomo who arrived in the office Monday morning feeling stressed and also saying he felt pains in his body, said he boarded an 11.30 am bus belonging to Bammangwato Coach Tours with his fiancee with much ado Sunday.

'We had occupied the seat on the third row on the left,' said Sejakgomo.

His fiancee, Malebogo Kgwaneng was proceeding to Gaborone while he was to detour at Palapye for his home village, Serowe. While sitting in the bus waiting for other passengers to board, he was alerted by the fiance who had seen some men whispering next to the left front wheel of the bus.

The fiancee allegedly overheard the men talking about the wheel and asked Sejakgomo to investigate.

'I went down to check for myself and I saw the wheel. If it were a cloth, I would have said it was threadbare, but that is how it looked to me. I was wondering aloud how we could be allowed to board a bus in this state.

'Actually, I did not mind who heard me, but then two men appeared as if from nowhere and started assaulting me. They were shoving and pushing me about while they clapped me in the process.

'Eventually, they managed to push me out of the bus and when I enquired as to why they were assaulting me, they told me without shame that I was instigating other passengers to get off the bus hence it would deprive them of money they would make from the passenger fares,' said Sejakgomo.

Sejakgomo said a woman standing by; who looked to be a vendor at the rank advised him that it was suicidal to speak the way he did. He said the woman allegedly asked Sejakgomo if he knew Tangane and that the man had plenty of money.

Letsweletse Tangane, whom Mmegi contacted, is the owner of the Bamangwato Bus Tours and some of his buses ply the Gaborone-Francistown route.

'She told me that they too as vendors derived money from the passengers and I was doing them a disservice by complaining. I was totally flabbergasted. Does it mean our lives and safety are of no value, but their merchandise?' asked the still peeved lensman.

Sejakgomo reported the matter to the police at the rank who quickly apprehended the assailants, but the photographer alleged the driver of the bus drove off, and he suspected it was to change the offending tyre or hide the bus.

What pained Sejakgomo was the verbal abuse also directed at his fiancee by the vendors who kept asking who she thinks she is.

'We are very traumatised at the moment. I was merely pointing out a problem, perhaps helping people who would have been involved in an accident had the tyre burst on the way,' said Sejakgomo.

When contacted, the owner of the bus, Letsweletse Tangane was in a mean mood uttering expletives as well as saying he would hunt down Sejakgomo and blaksem (beat) him.

'I will make that boy s..t. Does he know that I am running a business?' Tangane said while from time to time interspersing his tirades with apologising for his temper.

But he repeated that he was going to beat up Sejakgomo and even sue him for sabotaging his business.

'Who does he think he is?' he sneered.

Central Police Station commander, Superintendent Mokuedi Mphathi confirmed Monday that Sejakgomo reported the matter to them and that they had two men aged 21 and 30 respectively in their custody awaiting charges to be leveled against them once investigations are complete.

But he said they were still awaiting a doctor's medical report, which Sejakgomo said he submitted on Monday.

'Once we have the report we will be in a position to determine what charges to level against the men. It could be assault, grievous bodily harm or worse,' said Mphathi.