Man to rot in jail at the President's pleasure

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday January 13, 2010 00:00

Mhlanga has been in prison for the past 10 years for offences ranging from two counts of burglary, five counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of murder and a single count of theft.

The man was arrested in 1999 and there was a special finding that he was insane when he committed the offences. It was ruled that he be put in a safe place at the pleasure of the President and that place has been prison.

An attorney representing him at the Court of Appeal Nkepe Mabulu requested the judges to intervene in having the penal code reviewed so that he can be tried and punished for his crimes instead of being kept in jail indefinitely.

He said that Mhlanga has since stabilised and stopped taking medication in 2004. The attorney argued that an insane person should not be held criminally liable for the offences he committed because he had poor judgment. The judges - Justice Nick McNally, Seth Twum and Stanley Moore agreed with his arguments but informed him that the mentally ill person could only be held guilty of the acts and not the offence. The judges further informed the attorney that the matter was out of their jurisdiction as it was now in the hands of the President.

Mabula challenged the issue of keeping Mhlanga in prison saying he is also dangerous to other inmates and should be kept at a mental hospital. The judges conceded that indeed he was dangerous to other prisoners.

The lawyer appealed to the judges to overturn the High Court order that put him in prison and instead called for his trial. Again the judges reminded him that the matter was not in their jurisdiction and only in the hands of the President.

The state attorney, Thato Dibeela told the court that Mhlanga should have been the first resident of the newly opened Sbrana Mental Hospital in Lobatse. She stated that they are working day and night to have him relocated from prison to the new facility.

Sharing her frustrations outside court, Mhlanga's mother revealed that her son went to prison when he was only 15 years old. She said that she does not know what went into her son's head as he would go into a neighbour's house and steal things and bring them into their compound as well as commit other crimes. 'Our family has a serious mental problem,' she said showing us a bag, which she said belongs to a relative who was admitted to mental hospital recently.

She said that she is informed that her son stays isolated in prison for fear that he might injure other inmates. 'He does not attend any classes with others, he is always alone, I'm told,' she said. Her main question was what was going to happen if her son was to be released.

Another inmate who is kept at a 'safe place (in jail) at the President's pleasure' is Taboka Tsotso Moaro who killed beauty queen Lungile Ndlangamandla in February 2006 in Gaborone. He was sent to jail in 2007 after a psychiatrist confirmed that he was a criminal lunatic.