Zimbabwean Man Busted With Botswana Passport And Omang
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday October 30, 2017 15:11
Ngwenya was arrested by a special Botswana Police Service (BPS) operation on October 3 at Borolong village near Francistown.
Ngwenya fraudulently applied for the national identity card using the names Kgakgamatso Vain at the offices of the Civil and National Registration Department in 2008 at Kasane.
According to the facts that were read in court recently, Ngwenya informed an officer who assisted him at the Omang offices that he came from Borolong and he subsequently managed to obtain Omang using his fictitious names of Kgakgamatso Vain. “I admit that I did this fully aware that my actions were unlawful,” said Ngwenya who kept very little eye contact with Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko. In the second count, Ngwenya also admitted to unlawfully obtaining a Botswana passport.
He said: “I confirm that on August 3, 2015, I went to the department of immigration and citizenship in Francistown to obtain a Botswana passport. I obtained the passport in question using the names Kgakgamatso Vain. I did that without any legal justification because at the material time I knew that I was a citizen of Zimbabwe. In addition, I also possessed a Zimbabwe passport.”
Ngwenya also confirmed that on October 3, the police arrested him and warned and cautioned him about the offence.
After Ngwenya admitted the facts that were read to him in respect of the two counts, Kapeko said he was satisfied that Ngwenya’s pleas in all the counts were unequivocal.
Kapeko then convicted Ngwenya as charged.
Kapeko made an order that after Ngwenya has mitigated and sentenced, the Omang and passport should be forfeited to the relevant departments within the ministry of nationality, immigration and gender affairs for proper disposal.
Ngwenya, who has been in custody since his arrest, will appear in court on November 8 for mitigation and sentence. Sub-inspector Kelebonye Matsapa represented the State.
Ngwenya’s case is similar to the one in which a Motswana woman pleaded guilty to helping Zimbabweans to fraudulently obtain national identity cards. The 44-year-old Sekane Mabutho of Tonota pleaded guilty to seven counts of helping the Zimbabweans to obtain Omang illegally when she appeared before magistrate Lebogang Kebeetsweng last week Wednesday.
She was charged with eight counts of lying to a person employed in the public service in order to help aliens to unlawfully obtain national identity cards.
She however admitted all the charges save for the second count. The offences happened in a period spanning close to 10 years but her unscrupulous ways were only discovered this year.
Police sources told The Monitor that in most of these cases, they have discovered that foreigners give Batswana money in order to fraudulently obtain national identity cards.