Bame Piet
5 September 2008
The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Dikgakgamatso Seretse, has vehemently denied allegations that he tried to force officers from the Botswana Police Forensic Laboratory to withdraw litigation proceedings against government.
"I never intimidated anybody. It was never my intention to intimidate anybody," he said in response to a letter from attorneys for the 23 police officers. The letter from Bogopa and Manewe Attorneys was written to the Attorney General, Athaliah Molokomme. It alleges that Seretse gave a two-day ultimatum for the officers to withdraw the proceedings.
The attorneys say that the officers were called to the Police Commissioner's office on Wednesday morning where they were ordered to report to Seretse's office at 2pm. They were instructed to come with their legal representatives to the meeting but this was not possible.
At the meeting, the lawyers say Seretse berated the officers for hastily turning to litigation. They were reminded of their status as police officers and their implicit duty to refrain from conduct, which may embarrass government. The minister, however, is said to have acknowledged that communication channels in the police service are not working properly. He said the officers' complaints on the non-payment of scarce skills allowance was being dealt with at cabinet level.
The lawyers accuse the minister of intimidating the officers to withdraw the proceedings against government. "Quite frankly, both clients and ourselves are baffled and startled by the nature and tone of the minister's intervention," they said. They asserted that it is the constitutional right of all people in Botswana to approach a court to ventilate their grievances and to seek legal redress."It is totally unacceptable and intolerable, however, for persons outside the administration of justice to try to block an aggrieved person's access to the courts. But it is particularly frightening and odious when it is none other than the minister responsible for justice who interpretes one's exercise of such constitutional right as evidence of perfidy; and even goes to the extent of issuing ultimatums for withdrawals of such proceedings," the attorney argued.
They say that ever since they issued a notice to sue government, their clients have been subjected to veiled threats and intimidation. They cited the Wednesday summon to the minister as testimony that they are being threatened.
"For the avoidance of further misunderstanding, we respectfully suggest that future meetings between our respective clients concerning this litigation be arranged and managed by their legal representatives. In the confidence that you will share the wisdom of this suggestion, we have expressly prohibited our clients from attending any future meetings with any of your clients, (including the minister), concerning this litigation or issues giving rise to the same," the letter reads.
The attorneys threatened legal action should Seretse, the Commissioner of Police or any other civil servant intimidate the officers. The letter has been copied to Seretse, Commissioner of Police, Director of Public Service Management and Botswana Police Director of Forensic Services.
However, contacted for comment Seretse dismissed the letter as absolute nonsense. He said that he learned about the police lawsuit in newspapers and he called the Commissioner of Police, Thebeyame Tsimako, to explain what is going on. He said the ministry had requested government to suspend implementation of scarce skills allowance to correct shortcomings in the armed forces and the matter is still being dealt with.
A presidential directive in February ordered that upon implementation of scarce skills allowance, the professional and technical allowance should be abolished. Seretse said that they were against the abolition of professional and technical allowance since the scarce skill allowance was a temporary incentive. He said that they had approached government to allow the armed forces to enjoy both allowances. "The commissioner told me that he explained to the officers that what they are seeking is what government wants for them, and that the matter was still being dealt with," he said.
He confirmed that he told the officers to come to his office with their attorneys, but they fail to do so. The Attorney General did not show up to. However, the meeting went ahead and he pleaded with the officers to wait for government to deal with the matter, he said.He denied ever intimidating any of the officers. He denied giving an ultimatum. "The officers are free to go to court, but the main question is what remedy are they seeking? We are still waiting for the officers to respond and that's when we received that stupid letter from the lawyers.
I think they just want money from the officers and they don't have their interests at heart," he said. The police officers are suing the director of DPSM for suspending implementation of payment of scarce skills allowance. Their attorneys have given government up to next week to respond.
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