The judgement of the CoA bench comes after the Commissioner, Attorney General, chairperson of Botswana Police Council and charperson of Class II Board, Mahalapye, were appealing the September 28, 2022 Francistown High Court decision by Justice Bengbame Sechele, which ruled that the decision by the Commissioner to dismiss Ngala was unlawful. In the judgement, CoA Judge Goemekgabo Tebogo-Maruping said the review application by Ngala had no merit and therefore, ought to have been dismissed by the court a quo.
He explained that the Commissioner of Police acted within the parameters of the prescribed statutory powers conferred upon him under the Police Act and that since he is not a lawyer by training, his choice of words in dismissing Ngala should not be allowed to invalidate a legitimate exercise of power by him. “In any event, the court was in error by reviewing the decision of the Commissioner of Police and setting it aside. The appeal in the circumstances succeeds,” he said. The judge pointed out that he agrees that the judge of the High Court fell into an error because he read and interpreted the dismissal letter completely out of context and divorced it from the entire disciplinary process that ultimately recommended Ngala’s dismissal. He noted that during the disciplinary process, the Board made conclusions and that it was apparent that the Board reached a verdict and never imposed any penalty but recommended one.
