One of the fundamental aims of DITSHWANELO - The Botswana Centre for Human Rights is to assist vulnerable people in society to assert their rights. However, recent activities of some of the members of the Police force threaten to seriously undermine our ability to do so. DITSHWANELO’s work is based on transparent communication with the communities which can only occur without fear of intimidation from public authorities.

DITSHWANELO personnel were at Manxotai village on 31 August 1999. This is the village where most of the people connected to the DITSHWANELO / Maauwe / Motswetla case, reside. While at the village, the DITSHWANELO personnel learned that the police had been to the village that very Tuesday (31 August 1999), at approximately 6.00a.m. and had made enquiries from one of the family members of the co-applicants. The police had wanted to know whose vehicle it was that often goes to Manxotai, whether it was the same vehicle which had taken the family members of Maauwe and Motswetla to Lobatse to attend the court hearing in August 1999, and who the driver of the vehicle was. The police were told that it was the DITSHWANELO vehicle which regularly visited Manxotai and which had collected the family members of the co-applicants to attend the hearing in Lobatse. The Police were also given the name of the DITSHWANELO staff member who had driven the vehicle.

What is of concern is the nature of the questions asked of those who did attend the hearing in Lobatse. If they had wanted to know, they only had to contact DITSHWANELO directly and we would have told them. The only reasonable conclusion to which we can come is that the police are adopting intimidatory tactics to try and dissuade members of the Maauwe and Motswetla families from attending the hearing. In our court documents, we have consistently revealed the marginalised nature of the Basarwa living in Manxotai area and the ease with which they can be intimidated.

DITSHWANELO acknowledges that it is indeed involved in the DITSHWANELO / Maauwe / Motswetla case which is currently before the High Court and that we are challenging the right of the State to retain the death penalty within a judicial system in a democratic country such as Botswana.

Our major concern is that the secretive nature of the police investigation into DITSHWANELO’s activities undermines our right to advocate on behalf of marginalised people.

DITSHWANELO has decided to inform the public about these unfortunate incidents because we believe that in a democracy such as ours intimidatory tactics by public servants are totally unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue.

DITSHWANELO has written to both the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General to firmly state our objection to such action by members of the police force and to clearly indicate our standpoint on the matter.

September 1999
Gaborone