Khama demands Peloetletse pays P1.5m for defamation
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday May 11, 2021 21:06
Khama has instructed his attorneys to demand a retraction and an unconditional apology from Peloetletse over a statement the latter allegedly published on the Gabz FM news page, with contents about his former BDP leader. On top of that, Khama is demanding that Peloetletse pays damages for defamation in the sum of P1,500,000.
According to the letter, Peloetletse is said to have written that soldiers suffered more under the Khama regime than his predecessors. Peloetletse allegedly accused Khama of stealing funds from the United Nations (UN), which were meant to remunerate soldiers who were involved in UN operations during his tenure as the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) commander.
“I am a former soldier. Everything former president SKI Khama said here is a LIE. In fact, soldiers suffered more under Khama than under his predecessors. He actually stole money that the UN had paid to the soldiers who went for the operations and paid them less than a quarter of what was actually due to them. Unhappy soldiers took the BDF to court and won, the BDF is struggling to pay the debts!! Khama can fool some people, but not all the people and all the time. In fact, many soldiers serving, retired and those that resigned and were in the operations during Khama’s time, get even more annoyed so such disrespectful statements by Ian Khama!!” [sic]
These are the words allegedly published by Peloetletse, which the demand letter described as “substantively false, wrongful and unlawful”. The letter stated the ‘impugned’ statement was published with the intention “to injure Khama in his personality rights, good name and dignity”.
“The statement is therefore defamatory of his character, has violated his right to a good name, and has unlawfully damaged his good reputation,” read the letter in part. Khama’s lawyers demanded that Peloetletse should respond and comply with the demands of the letter by close of business on May 10, 2021, as they have been instructed to institute legal proceedings for the recovery of the aforesaid damages as well as costs of attorney. Despite these demands, lawyers representing Khama confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Peloetletse had not acted on or complied with their demands.