Malawians in court for human trafficking

Tumelo Mouwane | Friday October 14, 2016 17:00

 

Sanie Idene (31), Jabulani Motlaadiile (32), Mussa Suffiyani (33) and Imulani Madi (23) are alleged to  have on September 20, 2016 in Lobatse engaged in the trafficking a total of 14 men and two women all from Malawi to Botswana. Most of the alleged victims are from Mangoche village, except two males, one from Nchise village and the other from Zomba village.

Magistrate Mokoni ordered that a Yao (Malawian language) interpreter should be availed on the next mention to ease communication.

“Clearly there is a communication barrier here, the accused persons are not fluent in Setswana neither English, a Yao translator must be availed on the next mention to ease communication,” Mokoni said.

One of the accused persons, Idene asked the court to free them from the offence as they are innocent. “The issue is that there was only one person without proper travelling documents amongst us during arrest, that person should have been charge alone. I am suffering and I can’t handle being held in custody over someone else’s offence,’’ Idene said. The second accused person, Motlaadiile informed the court that they have business and that their incarceration will affect it.

“We are business people and our business is suffering due to incarceration, we are innocent, the right person should be charged, this is the only place where we can get help,” Motlaadiile said.

The prosecutor in the case, sub-inspector Mishingo Kedikanetswe of Lobatse police station told the court that the accused person’s passports have been sent for analysis.

“Investigations are ongoing and the accused persons’ passports have been sent to the relevant authorities for confirmation of their authencity,” Kedikanetswe said.

The accused persons’ will mention again on October 27. The Investigating Officer (IO) is expected to take the stand for the second time on the next mention to advice the court as to why the accused persons should not be granted bail.