AG, representing the Ministry of Defence and Security and the BDF, says the latest list of plaintiffs represented before the court contains some plaintiffs who don't have sufficient and direct interest in the case while some haven't signed the power of attorney. The parties were back in court on Friday after they failed to agree on a settlement. The retired soldiers are fighting the government for allegedly transferring their pension to the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) without their consent. State attorney, Advocate Sidney Pilane when querying the list told the court that they have made an application to amend its plea.
"We have two special pleas. Firstly, the latest list of plaintiffs filed in June, about 36 filed don't have a sufficient and direct interest in the case and secondly, the list contains about 1,080 who haven't filed a power of attorney," he said. Pilane requested a date for the application to be heard saying they will exchange pleadings in the meantime. Retired officers' attorney, Kgalalelo Monthe, though not happy with the State's new development, cited appearance costs, conceding to the filed application. The judge ultimately set the date for the hearing to September 18. The two parties sat for talks two weeks back to settle out of court. Government had proposed an out-of-court settlement after indicating that they had secured P1.5 billion for the settlement. However, the talks allegedly collapsed as confirmed in a brief interview following the sitdown by ex-soldier and representative of ‘A re Itshekeng’, Brigadier Mabe Gaborone. “We sat for talks on Wednesday and we failed to reach an agreement. We decided it's best we go before the judge again and sort a way forward,” he said at the time. Gaborone had indicated that the talks collapsed because, despite government proposing a settlement, they are firm and willing to agree to an out-of-court settlement when their demands are met.
