Police investigating Kgokgothwane assault case
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday May 31, 2017 18:00
In April this year BMD headquarters was turned into a war zone after a National Working Committee (NWC) meeting when activists, amongst them Kgokgothwane, allegedly bodyguards of the party president, Ndaba Gaolathe, pounced on and assaulted secretary general Mangole and chairperson Modubule. Kgokgothwane, a retired Brigadier with the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), stood for Serowe South parliamentary seat and lost. He is a feared ex soldier.
In an interview with Mmegi the station commander of Central Police Station in Gaborone, Superintendent Vincent Pitseetsile confirmed that they are handling the matter. “The matter is still on. Mangole and Modubule have opened the case. We have since forwarded the case to the district office for further assessment of the evidence. We are currently waiting for our seniors to analyse the case and determine either the case should be handled by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or police prosecution,” Pitseetsile said.
Pitseetsile said that the case could only be withdrawn if both parties reconcile.
The NWC had met in order to take a resolution regarding the youth congress, which was later postponed.
Kgokgothwane and his crew, who are not members of the NWC, are alleged to have assaulted the pair outside the premises where the meeting was held before Gaolathe intervened. It is alleged that Kgokgothwane usually escorts Gaolathe.
The postponement of the congress has since caused divisions amongst party members something that is also believed to have resulted in Kgokgothwane and other activists manhandling Mangole and Modubule. In the scuffle, Mangole allegedly suffered injuries to the face and hand.
“It happened very fast because we did not know that they would try that. They grabbed us when we were trying to go to our vehicles, when trying the leave party office,” Modubule was quoted then.