Francistown prisoners to be relocated

Lebogang Mosikare | Friday April 24, 2015 16:17

While confirming the process, the public relations officer at Botswana Prisons Service Wamorena Ramolefhe, insisted that the relocation has not started.

“We have not yet started renovating the prison and transferring prisoners to other prisons. The transfers that are taking place right now are just normal transfers. We would tell you in due course when the renovation and relocation process starts in earnest,” said Ramolefhe.

Mmegi leant from different sources that the issue of relocating the prisoners is so critical that the matter was the sole item for discussion at the justice forum that was held at the Magistrates’ courts on Tuesday. Magistrates, senior police, prison officers and lawyers are said to have attended the meeting.

A warder, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Mmegi that the relocation of the prisoners has already started and it is anticipated that the renovation of the prisoners would take seven months.

He said that currently about 380 prisoners are remaining at the prison. The maximum number of prisoners the Francistown prison can hold is 600, according to the warder.

“Renovation of the prison is supposed to begin on April 27 but I do not think that it would start on that date. A meeting will be held next Tuesday to appraise all stakeholders about progress made in the relocation of prisoners,” said the warder.

Lawyers who spoke to Mmegi on condition of anonymity said that it is obvious that the relocation is going to affect the proper and efficient functioning of the justice system.

The lawyers said that the renovation would obviously have cost implications since they would have to move from Francistown where they are based to Selebi-Phikwe to attend mentions.

The lawyers said that it is unfair for the state to insist that their clients pay them money to secure their attendance at Selebi-Phikwe because their clients incurred no transportation costs while in Francistown.

“The state should pay for all costs relating to going to Selebi-Phikwe to attend mentions because it is a situation that is beyond the control of prisoners,” said one of the attorneys. A highly placed source within the magistracy who attended the meeting confirmed that there are some challenges that are going to be encountered as a result of the renovation of the prison.

“The attendance of prisoners and those on remand to come to court has all along been a challenge while they were still based here. You can imagine how problematic it would be for them to attend court when they are from outside Francistown,” said the source.

Ordinarily, prisoners are supposed to mention every 14 days before the courts. Transporting them to court from different places to Selebi-Phikwe for mentions is not easy because it involves a lot of logistics like security, said the source adding that the relocation is going to affect the starting times of the courts.

“We looked at how best we can help prison officials to avail prisoners to court as scheduled and on time. A resolution was taken that all mentions would be held at Selebi-Phikwe while all trials would be held in Francistown although it did not please all the stakeholders especially lawyers,” said the source.

The source said all magistrates in Francistown would alternate in going to Selebi-Phikwe to attend mentions. “The cost implications of this decision is not going to please anyone. According to our statistics, attorneys do not represent almost 90 percent of prisoners at the Francistown prison. The state would not pay for the attendance of their lawyers at Selebi-Phikwe. They will pay the costs,” said the source. Efforts to contact chief magistrate Gaedupe Makgatho, who is authorised to speak to the media, were futile as he was said to be on leave.