{"id":31371,"date":"2023-07-27T07:39:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T07:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt"},"modified":"2023-07-27T07:48:09","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T07:48:09","slug":"khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt","title":{"rendered":"Khama afraid of legal process, not death threats-Gov\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The Botswana government has said former president Ian Khama is, in fact, running away from the legal process as opposed to threats to his own life.<\/b><\/p>\n

The government says it is in everyone\u2019s interest that the former president remains safe from any harm. Speaking to PRESS following news reports from South Africa calling for Khama to leave, State President Assistant Minister, Meshack Mthimkhulu, said Khama never alluded to any threats to his life when he left the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe denied reports that he was fleeing the country. He said he left on a short notice and would be back soon,\u201d Mthimkhulu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKhama\u2019s only fear is facing prosecution.\u201d Mthimkhulu said it was not an anomaly that a former president would face criminal charges, citing former South African, US, and French presidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormer South African President Jacob Zuma has been prosecuted and even jailed but he never ran away,\u201d the Assistant Minister told adding \u201cFormer US president Donald Trump is also facing prosecution. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was also prosecuted by the state. They all submitted themselves to the legal process. They may not have liked it but they understood the nature of a democratic legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mthimkhulu said Khama\u2019s actions speak to the \u201cmind-set of the man\u201d and not any wrong doing by the government of Botswana. He also made reference to Khama\u2019s failed pre-emptive attempts to block possible extradition attempts by Botswana\u2019s Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) saying now the former president has already exposed himself to possible incarceration by the SA government should the DPP decide to apply for his extradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has now come to a point where, should the necessary legal processes be undertaken, he will be jailed while awaiting the extradition process to be concluded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he is not fearing for his own safety, Mthimkhulu said, that is why Khama contemplated relocating to the Kingdom of Eswatini upon losing his legal attempt to block extradition. \u201cIt is not our wish as the government of Botswana for our own former state president to be incarcerated in a foreign country awaiting extradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions about Khama\u2019s residential status in SA emerged again following a statement by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) president Julius Malema that Khama should \u201cgo back to Botswana\u201d.<\/p>\n

Malema was responding to a question from a journalist about the status of Khama\u2019s resident in the country. Khama fled to SA in 2021 following charges relating to \u201cunlawful possession of firearms, procuring the registration of firearms by false pretences and ownership of unregistered firearms\u201d.<\/p>\n

A warrant of arrest was eventually issued against the former president by the Gaborone High Court in December 2021.<\/p>\n

Khama unsuccessfully filed an urgent application in January 2023 opposing the warrant of arrest. He had also unsuccessfully filed a review application earlier in 2022 against the DPP\u2019s decision to charge him in relation to the firearms case arguing that the prosecution did not personally serve him with the charge sheet and summons as he was out of the jurisdiction of the Court.<\/p>\n

Assistant Minister of State President, Mthimkhulu, also confirmed that the state did organise a workshop for international media to counter Khama\u2019s \u201cpropaganda\u201d against the government Botswana and President Mokgweetsi Masisi. \u201cWe had to respond,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot allow Khama to use South Africa as a platform to attack Botswana. And we responded adequately.\u201d Mthimkhulu said the former president\u2019s \u201cattacks\u201d undermined the democratic principles, institutions, as well as national interests of Batswana at large.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The Botswana government has said former president Ian Khama is, in fact, running away from the legal process as opposed to threats to his own life. The government says it is in everyone\u2019s interest that the former president remains safe from any harm. Speaking to PRESS following news reports from South Africa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-31371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nKhama afraid of legal process, not death threats-Gov\u2019t - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Botswana government has said former president Ian Khama is, in fact, running away from the legal process as oppos ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Khama afraid of legal process, not death threats-Gov\u2019t\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Botswana government has said former president Ian Khama is, in fact, running away from the legal process as oppos ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-27T07:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-27T07:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690427752.795002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Khama afraid of legal process, not death threats-Gov\u2019t\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-27T07:39:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-27T07:48:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\"},\"wordCount\":601,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690427752.795002.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/khama-afraid-of-legal-process-not-death-threats-govt\",\"name\":\"Khama afraid of legal process, not death threats-Gov\u2019t - 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