RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON THE EXECUTION OF MR. KOBEDI

DITSHWANELO - The Botswana Centre for Human Rights would like to comment on the public statement made by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr. B.K. Sebele. The statement appeared in the Mmegi and Guardian newspapers on 1 August 2003. Mr. Sebele made the assertion that the Government of Botswana has not administered the death penalty in an arbitrary and secretive manner. DITSHWANELO reiterates its earlier statement of 18 July 2003, which condemned the execution of the late Mr. Lehlohonolo Kobedi. We also express our grave concern about a number of lapses in the administration of justice in his case.

DITSHWANELO wishes to raise three issues regarding the secrecy surrounding the execution of the late Mr. Kobedi. First, contrary to the Permanent Secretary's statement, DITSHWANELO was prevented from visiting Mr. Kobedi. Section 116 of the Prisons Act states that a prisoner under sentence of death "may, subject to any reasonable conditions the Commissioner may impose, be visited by his legal advisers and such of his relatives and friends as he may express a wish to see." On 6 June 2003, the Commissioner of Prisons and Rehabilitation, Mr. Kau, received a letter from Mr. Kobedi requesting that representatives of DITSHWANELO be allowed to see him. When we telephoned the Commissioner to ask him about the letter, he responded that, as it had been sent directly to him instead of being sent through the Officer in Charge of the Prison, he considered it to have never been written. DITSHWANELO expressed its desire to visit Mr. Kobedi. Commissioner Kau then told us to write a letter to him requesting to visit Mr. Kobedi. This we did on 13 June 2003. In his response letter of 17 June 2003, he informed us that the Prisons Act did not permit us to see Mr. Kobedi. DITSHWANELO seriously questions whether Commissioner Kau interpreted the Prisons Act with the sole purpose of preventing Mr. Kobedi from exercising his legal right to see us.

Second, the late Mr. Kobedi, like the late Ms Marietta Bosch, was executed without prior notice to his family, friends, or lawyers. While we recognize that Section 119 of the Prisons Act only allows certain prison officials and religious ministers to attend the execution, nothing in the Act prevents the Commissioner from informing those close to the prisoner of the intended date and time of his or her upcoming execution. DITSHWANELO believes that such secrecy is unnecessarily cruel to the family and friends of the prisoner, who themselves are innocent of the crime for which the prisoner is executed.

Third, in both 1999 and 2003, before the executions of Ms Bosch and Mr. Kobedi respectively, DITSHWANELO sent requests to the Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President, asking for detailed information concerning the decision-making process of the Clemency Committee. To date, this information has not been made available. Decisions which are made without explanation can be understood to be arbitrary, and the arbitrary exercise of power is directly opposed to Vision 2016's pillar of an open, democratic, and accountable society.

DITSHWANELO condemns the death penalty under any circumstances. In a liberal democracy, such as Botswana, which is committed to equal treatment under the law, the death penalty is neither reasonable nor justifiable. When both the clemency process and the execution itself occur without the knowledge of the lawyers, relatives, and friends, the injustices of the death penalty are only magnified. 

Such secrecy prevents policy-makers from dealing with the hard questions raised by Mr. Kobedi's case. Were Mr. Kobedi's poorly paid pro deo attorneys also poorly qualified to represent defendants facing the death penalty? Did they fail to submit key evidence at the appropriate time? DITSHWANELO seeks to re-state its grave concern about the underfunded pro deo system in Botswana.

DITSHWANELO will continue to raise these questions and concerns. We remain firm in our commitment to the abolition of the death penalty in Botswana.

8 August 2003
Gaborone