Government loses bid to overturn order to cooperate with Botswana into probe of political elite suspects
30 March 2023
The High Court in Pretoria has found against the South African government and awarded costs in favour of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Botswana. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit was briefed by the DPP, Adv. Stephen Tiroyakgosi and acted on their behalf. The case relates to an order that compelled the government to cooperate with their counterparts in Botswana in an investigation which implicates high-ranking South African political figures in alleged offences in that country.
Botswana applied for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) to South Africa in September 2019 – but despite numerous follow-ups and efforts to get cooperation, several state departments simply turned a blind eye. This prompted Botswana’s Director of Public Prosecutions to approach the Private Prosecution Unit for help.
The South African government’s application sought to overturn - to rescind - Judge Hennie de Vos’s granting of AfriForum’s mandamus application. The unopposed mandamus application was granted with costs on 7 July 2021 and ordered that the Justice Department and the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) are obligated to comply with the application brought by the government of Botswana for mutual legal assistance. In July 2021 the Department and the NDPP failed to oppose AfriForum’s mandamus application.
Judge Joseph Raulinga found that instead of cooperating, the government was playing for time. “The applicants failed to demonstrate why the order was erroneously granted. The applicants, as much as they tried to settle the matter out of court, they were playing delay tactics, they appointed an investigator and a prosecutor and still failed to provide an update on the developments that the investigator had made. The respondent is correct in their submission that there comes a point when litigation must come to an end.