26 Apr 2022

Village Magistrate Court yesterday granted conditional bail to the six men accused of robbing  Southern African Development Community (SADC) headquarters in January. 

Magistrate Tshepo Thedi set the bail amount at P5 000 and had each of the men provide two sureties who would pay P10 000 each. 

He also ordered the accused to surrender their travel documents, report to Borakanelo Police Station every Friday, attend court sessions when required and not to be involved or be suspects in any criminal activities. State prosecutor, Mr Pascal Mhandu had earlier on told the court that the team of investigators who had travelled to Zimbabwe for further investigations were back in the country, and investigations were almost complete. 

He added the investigating officer would be handing the docket over to the Directorate of PublicProsecutions. To that end the prosecution was not opposed to the accused being granted bail. 

However, the court declined his prayer for it to set bail at P10, 000 for each of the accused after the men pleaded the amount was too high. 

The men, Maitapiso Kgakgamatso, Lesego Masilo, Mpho Rasetena, Otsile Semadi, Tongai Tsikirayi and Innocent Bushiri Shaggy are alleged to have robbed SADC headquarters of 18 laptops, six cellphones and a camera, all valued at about P582 000. 

The trio of Kgakgamatso, Rasetena and Semadi are also accused of another robbery, which they are alleged to have committed around December 21 last year, at Gaborone’s Central Business District. 

They are reported to have stolen goods of an undisclosed amount. 

The six men will return to court on May 10 for status hearing. Ends