16 Jan 2020

Hearings of election results petitions will resume on Monday at the Gaborone High Court.

The decision was made at the final case management conference sitting on January 15.

The petitions are before a panel of three judges, being Gaopalelwe Ketlogetswe, Itumeleng Segopolo and Omphemetse Motumise.

The Mogalakwe Mogalakwe petition will kick-start the proceedings scheduled to run from January 20 to January 22.

Mr Mogalakwe was a council candidate at Mosolotshane/Moralane ward in the Shoshong constituency representing the Alliance for Progressives.

Mogalakwe’s attorney, Mr Patrick Kgwadi said they would call 11 witnesses to argue their case.Mr Kgwadi also informed the court that one of their witnesses was deaf and dumb and therefore an expert in sign language would be engage to translate during trial proceedings. “We will communicate with respondents to establish if they will also seek to engage their own sign language interpreter,” he said.

He also said their witnesses would relay their evidence in Setswana, Sekgalagadi and English.

The Mogalakwe trial will be followed by Mr Entebetse Boitshwarelo’s trial who was the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) council candidate at Mmashoro ward in the Serowe West Constituency. The trial is scheduled for January 23 and 24.

The other election results petition to be tried on Saturday, January 25 and Monday January 27 is for Mr Maneke Segootsane, who was the UDC council candidate at Kaudwane ward in the Letlhakeng/Lephepe constituency.

The application for Mr Noah Salakae, who was the UDC parliamentary candidate for Ghanzi North constituency is scheduled for trial on January 30 and 31.

Meanwhile, final case management conference in other petitions involving three UDC council candidates in the Gaborone South Constituency being James Matlhogojane (Selemela ward), Olefile Motswasele (Naledi Central), Olebogeng Kemelo (Bontleng ward) was adjourned to January 21.

Prior to scheduling the petitions, Justice Motumise stated that the trials schedule would follow the sequence in which the petitions were registered in court. He said the 90 days for the Mogalakwe petition lapses on February 12, followed by the Boitshwarelo petition which expires on February 18.

The Salakae, Segootsane, Matlhogojane, Motswasele and Kemelo petitions respectively lapses on February 20, 2020. The trial drafting schedule will therefore follow that sequence, commencing with the Mogalakwe petition trial, said Justice Motumise.

Judge Motumise said the High Court would consider scheduling the trials on weekends to expedite their completion. ENDS