Ex-BDF lovers await court fate
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday October 26, 2016 17:30
Gaborone High Court judge, Justice Zein Kebonang is expected to deliver a landmark ruling in the matter that the lovers, Thabang Tlhapisang and Kozondu Cisquo Uariua are accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship sometime in 2012 and subsequently discharged.
Kebonang said he will deliver judgement on, or before December 12 following substantive submissions by both parties yesterday.
The couple, whose case has been clouded by back and forth side litigations for long, seemed relieved when the case came to finality and judgement expected before close of the year.
Through their lawyer, Othusitse Mbeha, the lovers who were charged and dismissed respectively for allegedly contravening the military’s Policy on Fraternisation and Sexual. They were seeking the review of their charges and their subsequent dismissal from military duties. In his submission, Mbeha argued that the manner in which the couple was convicted and sentenced was unlawful and unsubstantiated by any law.
He said it was irrational, especially that even the disciplinary hearing proceedings against the two were delayed despite having been in a relationship since 2012, and were only charged and dismissed in 2014.
“The couple engaged in the relationship since 2012 and were dismissed after a long time on the basis that they would bring the army into disrepute, they were only dismissed on a suspicion while there was nothing suggesting that there was such a thing,” he said.
Mbeha maintained that to dismiss his clients on an issue that had not happened was irrational, especially that even the section of the Act used to charge them was violated. He said the Policy on Fraternisation and Sexual Harassment was not a known part of regulations of BDF.
Therefore its application to dismiss the pair raised a question of how then could it (the application) seek to regulate the conducts of the members of the force if it was neither known by the members nor was it incorporated as terms and conditions of their employment and engagement.
However, the state has maintained its stance, arguing that the couple was charged and dismissed accordingly and in line with the BDF Act. The state’s contention was that section 65 of the BDF Act was not a decisive factor in dismissing and discharging, and that other provisions were considered in the disciplinary proceedings.
“The intention of prohibiting interrelationships between the officer and ranks did not necessarily have to follow any results, but was intended to avoid all foreseeable and unforeseeable results prejudicial to good order and discipline,” read state papers.
Meanwhile, according to evidence before court, the two were accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship some time in 2012 and each charged on August 22, 2014 with a single count of conducting themselves in a manner that was prejudice of good order and military discipline contrary to the BDF Act.
Subsequent to that they were both dismissed from the military on October 28, 2014 through a letter dated October 27, 2014.
Tlhapisang was employed as a 2nd Lieutenant while Uariua was employed as a private soldier based at the Sir Seretse Khama Barracks (SSKB).