Butterfly malicious prosecution: A greater negative for Botswana

Maswabi was charged with financing terrorism, possession of unexplained property and false declaration of a passport. The financing terrorism charge was dropped late last year and before Kebonang’s judgement this week, Maswabi was fighting to be acquitted of the remaining two charges.

The court has seriously outlined that the country itself has suffered immense harm from ‘these contrived prosecutions’. The Directorate of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) inability to prosecute the real offenders of charges means that the criminals remain in the wind. This framing of innocent persons like Maswabi seriously jeopardises national security. Fabrication and frame-ups are not anomalies because as recent court losses show, they have become the very heart and soul of the DPP now. “The case against the applicant was a case that never was. It was a lie orchestrated from the onset by highly ranked public officers who are accountable only to themselves. It was a brazen criminal act from those entrusted with public power that should have never been allowed to happen,” Kebonang highlighted in the judgement.