Mokone dares Khama
Oarabile Mosikare | Wednesday September 24, 2014 12:12
Yesterday the state newspaper, the Daily News reported that the Sunday Standard newspaper could face a civil claim for defamation following its publication of a story headlined, ‘President hit in car accident while driving alone at night’, which appeared in the paper’s edition of August 31 to September 6, 2014.
Yesterday, a defiant Mokone said they have decided to ignore the letter from Khama’s lawyers, Collins Newman and Company. The lawyers had given the paper until September 26 to retract its story and apologise to Khama fully and unconditionally.
“Let them pursue the matter and we will defend,” said Mokone. He said the route taken by Khama is disingenuous because there is a criminal sedition case slapped on him by the state on a similar matter.
Mokone was recently arrested and spent a night in police custody for the same story, which the Commissioner of Police, Keabetswe Makgophe felt was seditious. He was slapped with the colonial era criminal law of sedition, and is out on bail pending court appearance on November 28, 2014.
The arrest, the sedition charge and now the threat of defamation all arise from the newspaper article alleging that Khama was involved in a road accident while driving alone at night on a private escapade. The paper wrote that Khama had attempted to conceal the accident and that he violated the country’s road traffic laws and failed to report the accident within the stipulated time.
On the eve of Mokone’s arrest, the writer of the story, senior journalist Edgar Tsimane fled the country to South African where he applied for political asylum citing harassment by the government. He has since been granted temporary asylum until October 23, 2014, the day of the general elections, which the South African government is reported to have said it will review then.