Mzwinila brothers remanded in custody

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Friday July 30, 2010 00:00

The brothers, together with their co-accused, Elizabeth Surtee who is their mother, and another family member, Doreen Moseki, are expected to appear in court on August 5 where new dates for their trial will be set. The four are accused of attempting to rob Bank of Baroda of P1 million and threatening to use violence on the bank's managing director, Kadayam Ramasubramoney. In another unrelated matter, the Mzwinila brothers have also been remanded in custody in a case where they are suspected of breaking into Riverwalk Home Corp and stealing electronic equipment valued at around P254,595.52. In this case they are also charged with their mother Surtee, an Isaac Nyoni and Bikie Letsididi, who is a teacher at Kgale Hill Secondary School in Gaborone. In this case Extension ll Magistrate Faith Dlamini-Ngandu remanded the Mzwinila brothers and Nyoni, while Surtee and Letsididi are out on bail.

The brothers have been blamed for delaying the case last year after they were arrested in South Africa. The Mzwinila brothers have vehemently opposed their remand in both cases. They told the court that they did not abscond nor escape during the Bank of Baroda case.

Edward told the court that he informed the then State prosecutor, Bafi Nlanda that he was due to travel to South Africa in December last year.  'Nlanda gave me the go ahead and I requested my travelling documents from the investigating officer', Edward said. Edward said he was due to travel to South Africa for the funeral of one of his family members. 'Unfortunately upon arrival there I was arrested. I then made a request that I volunteer to come to Botswana to continue with this trial in January,' Edward said. He accused the State of being responsible for delaying their extradition to Botswana.  His brother, Michael also told the court that Nlanda and the investigating officer also granted him permission to travel to South Africa. Michael further revealed that the purpose of his trip was to collect some of his belongings that had been left there upon his arrest in 2002. He said on his arrival in South Africa he was also arrested. I consented to extradition. However the State delayed on its part', Mzwinila said. He urged the court not to revoke their bail, as there are other documents such as their passports that they want to use in proving their case.

However, this elicited a scorching attack from the State counsel Israel who expressed shock on learning that the brothers had travel documents. Israel told the court that Edward and Michael had to be declared illegal immigrants for them to be extradited. 'This is not the first time they had to be extradited. During their first extradition, they were not cooperative with our Embassy people in South Africa regarding their passports. Hence they were given new passports. But this time around they had to be declared illegal immigrants before being brought here. This is what delayed the process', Israel said.  Regional Magistrate Lot Moroka presided.