Francistown — Kgosi Labane Meno of Maun Customary Court has smacked a vulgar-mouthed hawker with a P500 fine for insulting her co-worker. She will go to jail for six-months if she fails to pay the fine within two weeks. Meno passed the sentence after the vendor, Freeder Batlang of Moeti Ward, complained before him that Kebone Dihawa of Sanyedi Ward had defamed her character at a passenger packed Maun bus rank.

Batlang told the court that on the 15th of April 2008, she and other hawkers were selling their products at the rank when she requested her friend, Ellie, to disembark from a loading bus to give her a chance to try her luck inside. To her surprise she saw Dihawa advancing towards her with a screwed face and accusing her of indirectly referring those words to her.

"I was dumbfounded for words when I heard her saying, "ga o bue le ene mma, ke itse gore o bua lenna motho ke wena yo o gailang banna ka Aids ya gago. Gape nkuku wa gago o sule a balabala maina a batho ba a bafeditseng ka boloi jwa gagwe kwa Gweta. Le fa o ka nkisa kwa kgotleng nka se itatole mafoko ame gone nkuku wa gago o sule a bitsa maina a batho ba a ba jeleng".

(Literally, this means: "you are not speaking to her, I know you are directing your words to me, you wicked one who has destroyed men with your AIDS. Moreover, your grandmother died confessing to having bewitched many to death in Gweta. Even if you were to take me to court, I won't deny what I said because your grandmother died calling names of people she killed").

Other state witnesses were Elizabeth Phuthego and Keamogetse Andrick who confirmed Batlang's statement to the court.

In her defence, the accused disputed ever insulting the complainant. She said that the fights that occasionally take place between their children may have aggrieved the other woman. As a result she decided to nail her to the law with lies. She also wondered why Batlang had done that because she had always considered her a sister.

Meno, in his verdict, sieved Dihawa's facts as lies. He said that if she was telling the truth she would have brought witnesses to support her story. "But you are here alone to stand against an accusation which took place at a fully packed bus terminus. Isn't that enough evidence to us who were not present at the scene that what you are telling is just a fabricated story?" he said.

Meno further reprimanded Dihawa for insulting the complainant and her grandmother in public. He said that even if she had known that Batlang was HIV-positive she had no right to flag the information to people.

"You know very well that HIV/AIDS cases are treated with confidentiality in healthcare centres because of the devastating effects that they have on the infected. Such people are still stigmatized by society but you intentionally decided to use that as an axe to chop Batlang's dignity. Do you know her status or did you ever see her grandmother in the act of witchcraft? You should think before you utter a word or else you will always find yourself in the jaws of the law because of your undisciplined tongue."