Gaborone — The lawyer representing the man who was deported for allegedly insulting President Ian Khama is contemplating taking the matter to the SADC Tribunal.

A businessman of Indian origin, Sayed Fakhar Abbas Shah, was flown out of the country last Thursday after being declared an undesirable visitor to Botswana. The lawyer, Duma Boko, says he is assessing different options, one of them being approaching the Tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The SADC Tribunal was established in 1992 by Article 9 of the SADC Treaty for the development of the regional bloc's law and jurisprudence Earlier this month, Shah was arraigned before the Gaborone Regional Magistrates Court after he allegedly uttered words to the effect that President Ian Khama was of a different sexual orientation than the conventional. Shah was charged with use of insulting language to the President contrary to Section 93 (1) of the Penal Code.

According to the particulars of the offence, on October 6 at Jamal Trading Company in Gaborone, Shah allegedly uttered the words: "I do not f**k ladies just like your President Khama who does not have a wife."

However, the matter was withdrawn, Shah declared a prohibited immigrant in Botswana and subsequently flown out of the country last Thursday.

Boko says the withdrawal of the case by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions means that DPP did not have a case against the accused. But Shah was declared PI by presidential decree, which remains unchallengeable in court.