Justice delayed is justice denied-cries Majaga
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday November 3, 2017 12:13
It has been 11 years since Majaga and the three men, Shadreck Mochabange, Tshokolo Mochabange and Goletswang Mpule, were charged with being found in possession of meat and hide of a cow suspected to have being stolen. The case took a surprising and interesting twist when State prosecutor, Moffat Dick admitted that the quartet would suffer great prejudice if they were now prosecuted for the offence.
Dick was replying to the quartet’s attorney, Oratile Konne who had earlier on applied that the matter be withdrawn since the accused are of the view that they will be prejudiced because they have not been prosecuted within a reasonable time.
Briefing the court about the genesis of the matter, Konne said the case started in 2006 but the accused are yet to be tried.
“A record of proceedings will show that the prosecution withdrew the matter in 2007. In 2008, nothing was done about the case but in 2009 the matter was reinstated.
In 2011, the magistrate court elected to refer the case to the High Court on the basis that if the trial proceeded, the accused will not have a fair trial,” Konne said. After several court appearances, Konne said the magistrate court withdrew the matter in 2016 for want of prosecution after the prosecution failed to appear in court for no valid reasons. Koone added that it boggles the mind that the state reinstated the matter in March 2017.
The above statement will embolden and vindicate Majaga’s long held view that the case is politically motivated since it always resurfaces when the general elections period is near.
Majaga has long complained that the case is just a political witch-hunt orchestrated by some BDP head honchos who are plotting his political downfall because they prefer certain BDP operatives to him.
Konne continued: “As stated above, we submit that if the accused are prosecuted they will not get a fair trial since some of the defence witnesses have died. Also, because of passage of time, we don’t expect the accused to remember what happened 11 years ago very well. In conclusion we pray that the matter should be referred to the High Court to deal with the constitutional issue raised by the accused”. In response, Dick said the prosecution had initially filed a motion of notice to oppose the application to refer the matter to the High Court to deal with the constitutional issue raised by the accused.
He said: “We are however of the view that the matter should be referred to the High Court for determination if the accused stand to suffer if they are tried more than 10 years after the offence was allegedly committed. We agree with the defence counsel that the accused will suffer if they are prosecuted now.
However, the court should note that the accused also played a part in the delaying of the case to be tried in timely fashion although we agree that the State played a major part in stalling the case”. In all fairness, Dick said, the accused should be granted the opportunity to refer the matter to the High Court for determination. Magistrate Kose Makobo adjourned the matter to November 17 for ruling.