Councillor Tabengwa receives death threats

Tebogo Kgalemang
Correspondent | Friday June 17, 2011 00:00

The long serving BCP councillor for Ikageng ward in Francistown, alleges that Molalapata's relatives uttered threats to kill him at the Francistown High Court after the judgment last week.

'One woman said that I am going to die and if not, they will do everything possible to take my life,' said Tabengwa. He said the relatives were discussing this as a group but he managed to identify one woman because she was a prosecution witness in the case.

Francistown Station Commander Superintendent Cyprian Magalila confirmed that they have since registered the case. Speaking in a telephone interview with Mmegi yesterday, Magalila confirmed that Tabengwa reported the case to his office on June 7th.

The superintendent stated that they will confront the two parties by the end of this week after investigations are complete.

Tabengwa was last week acquitted and discharged of the murder of Molalapata by Francistown High Court Justice Terrence Rannowane on the basis that he had acted in self-defence. This is after he shot dead Molalapata of Tonota village with a shotgun when he found him breaking into his house at night in Block One location three years ago. During the judgment, Justice Rannowane had stated that in shooting the deceased when he was unlawfully breaking into Tabengwa's house, he (Tabengwa) was lawfully entitled to protect his property by repelling such an attack. The court record shows that when Tabengwa arrived at his house on the fateful night, he challenged the intruder whom he found breaking into the house.

Molalapata was insolent and refused to stop and that was when Tabengwa fired fatally wounding him.  Justice Rannowane had said that he did not think any reasonable person would simply have walked away when the attacker refused to stop his attempt to break into the house.

'I opine that a housebreaker, who when found by the owner of the house in the process of breaking into the house, refuses to stop when challenged by the owner of the house, under similar circumstances, has only himself to blame if he is shot and killed,' said Rannowane. The judge further stated that in judging Tabengwa's case, he also took into account the history of his suffering at the hands of criminals who were never apprehended and punished.

The court record indicates that the councillor was at one stage severely assaulted by armed intruders. He also has a history of house break-ins at his house and at his son's house.  In acquitting Tabengwa, the judge however cautioned people against taking the law into their own hands. He stressed that each case depends on its own merits and the first option should be to seek police intervention.