27 Oct 2025

Four men, three Batswana and an Eswatini national, appeared before Serowe Magistrates Court on Friday on charges of unlawful possession of a substance suspected to be dagga.

The quartet, Kgomotso Nthela (25), Goarabile Samson (25), Thato Mosinyi (33) and Thembinkosi Mnisi (37) of Eswatini were arrested during a Stop-and-Search operation mounted by officers from  Serowe Police Station along the Thabala-Mogorosi road on Thursday night.

Appearing before Magistrate Onneile Ntwayapelo, the four men asked to be granted bail after the charge sheet was read to them. However, the investigating officer, Assistant Superintendent Eric Dambe of Serowe police, requested the court to deny them bail as the matter was still fresh and investigations were yet to be concluded.

He said if granted bail, they could interfere with witnesses and could also skip the country because of the severity of the offence and the possible stiff sentences that would result in the event they got convicted.

ASP Dambe further told the court that there was uncertainty regarding the permanent physical addresses of the accused persons, hence granting them bail would likely result in them absconding and therefore missing future court appearances.

He said the police were also still on the trail of others suspected to be working with the four accused persons, adding that there were allegations that the four men were part of a larger syndicate.

The Eswatini national, Mnisi will be arraigned separately on October 28 as the charge sheet could not be read to him on Friday as he had indicated that he required a Zulu interpreter.  The other accused persons will appear for mention on November 6. The four accused remain in custody. ENDS