Wrongfully Jailed Zim Man Speaks
Pini Bothoko | Monday January 21, 2019 13:19
Gaborone High Court judge, Justice Zein Kebonang freed the Zimbabwean pastor who had been tried and convicted with a wrong section of the law.
Magistrate Gaseitsiwe Tonoki of Broadhurst Magistrate’s Court sentenced Hlabangana to four years in jail and fined him P4, 000 for remaining in the country illegally.
He had been in the country from June 2014 to December 2017, without approaching the relevant department to ask for more days, after the 90 days he was given had elapsed. Pending his appeal, Hlabangana’s attorney Howard Tainton filed an urgent application with the High Court to have him freed as he was tried and convicted with a wrong section of the law.
Instead of focusing on the application before him, Kebonang was quick to label the sentence a miscarriage of justice.
He questioned Tamela Mbulawa of Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as to why Hlabangana was given such a heavy sentence. He sent Mbulawa and Tainton to the Magistrate’s Court to establish facts on the case.
As they returned to court in the afternoon, Mbulawa conceded that Hlabangana could have been charged with a section that warrants a maximum sentence of one year behind bars, and/or P100 per day overstayed with the maximum fine being P1, 000 or both.
“Indeed my Lord he was charged with the wrong section which states that if he had not followed conditions set by the minister he could get the sentence he got. But there were never any conditions set for him by the minister. Also he is a first offender and admitted guilt,” Mbulawa said.
Kebonang then moved to vacate the charge and fined Hlabangana P1, 000 plus the time he had already served in prison, being almost eight months.
Four months after his release, Hlabangana is back in the country and came to The Monitor offices to share his traumatic ordeal.
“It was on December 27 when I was in my church office in Mogoditshane that heavily armed police officers and soldiers came to look for me and whisked me away,” he recalled. “It all happened in front of my six-year-old daughter who is still terrified by the incident that she is still scared of police officers and soldiers.” Hlabangana said he was expecting that he would be charged and deported just like it usually happens with other Zimbabweans, but to his surprise, he was sentenced to four years behind bars.
“I was persecuted and not prosecuted. I have suffered greatly emotionally, mentally and health wise. I am still recovering from conditions that were brought to me by the prison life.” He said he still shed tears at times thinking that he could still be behind bars had it not been for Kebonang.
Hlabangana said he would not be suing the State, but rather he wants to use his experience to make a difference in the country. “I had been helping a lot of people offering counselling as a pastor. I now want to do more than that and work on helping others to fight injustice,” he said.
“There are some people who abuse their offices and I want to work with people to fight against these. There is possibly many people wrongfully in prisons who need the kind of help that I got and I want to reach out to them.”
Hlabangana said he is working on getting his paperwork in order so that he can be able to live in Botswana freely and make a difference in the society.