Immunity or impunity

In the build-up to the acrimonious High Court case, Mmegi satirist Selefu portrayed President Ian Khama as a turtle. The head of the turtle is partly covered by a big shell of presidential immunity while above the head is a swinging knobkerrie. The knobkerrie swings above but cannot reach the head under 'presidential immunity'.

That Khama is not a turtle is of no debate. However, Selefu predicted what would unfold at the High Court a week before it happened - Khama successfully dodged the debate of the substantive issues relating to his suspension of Botswana Democratic Party Secretary, Motswaledi, behind that impernetrable wall of presidential immunity. Chief Justice Julius Nganunu may be one of the first few judges to have imposed such a blanket meaning to presidential immunity in modern democracy, but Khama is surely not the first president to retreat back inside the shell of presidential immunity to escape the ambit of due process.