Long regarded as one of Africa’s most stable countries, Botswana finds itself at the centre of a bizarre legal drama — in which Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe, one of SA’s first black women mining bosses and the country’s former president Ian Khama have been cast as pivotal actors — that has significant implications for its relationship with SA.
Motsepe-Radebe and Khama are adamant they have been falsely accused by Botswana’s anti-corruption authorities of being embroiled in multibillion-dollar theft and money-laundering aimed at financing a coup in SA’s diamond-rich neighbour, in allegations contained in an ongoing prosecution of a former intelligence operative, which Khama has dismissed as a “farce”.
The claims made against the pair, whose long friendship is a matter of public record, emerged in October 2019 after a dramatic general election that saw Khama publicly clash with his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, and defect from the governing Botswana Democratic Party.
Though Khama had handpicked Masisi as his successor after serving two terms in office, the two leaders fell out after Masisi fired the country’s intelligence chief Isaac Kgosi. Khama retaliated by publicly criticising Masisi.
In the midst of that unfolding political soap opera, Botswana’s directorate of economic crime and corruption investigator, Jako Hubona, went under oath in the prosecution of intelligence agent Welheminah Mphoeng Maswabi and accused Khama, Kgosi, Motsepe-Radebe and others of being involved in a huge theft, money-laundering and treason plot.
Hubona had claimed that, while still in office, Khama and Kgosi had opened a number of bank accounts at the Bank of Botswana to funnel more than $10.1bn (about R176bn), an amount that would constitute the value of 54% of the country’s economy, to various international and SA bank accounts in 2019.
Hubona further claimed that Motsepe-Radebe and Maswabi, who stands accused of financing terrorism, were cosignatories on some of these accounts. The state’s case against Maswabi implies that these funds were intended to be used to orchestrate political unrest and fund opposition groups against Masisi.
If true, these sensational allegations would not only justify Khama’s criminal prosecution and imprisonment, but would also completely destroy his legacy as Botswana’s former leader and undermine the legitimacy of any critique he may level against the new regime.
Independent probe
By naming Motsepe-Radebe as one of Khama’s conspirators, Hubona’s claims also threatened to not only undermine the legitimacy of her long association with Botswana, but also profoundly taint President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is her brother-in-law. That is because Motsepe-Radebe, while not being prosecuted alongside Maswabi, was effectively being accused of involvement in a criminal attempt at regime change in Botswana.
As part of efforts to clear her name, Motsepe-Radebe commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations, appointing international law firm Omnia Strategy and business intelligence firm Alaco. In a report released on Wednesday, the investigators found that Hubona’s claims were “completely fabricated”.
Cherie Blair, who heads Omnia, told Business Day she was “shocked” at how quickly Hubona’s allegations collapsed when investigators sought to “follow the money flows” he had alleged.
“I myself am very well aware that Botswana has had this long-standing reputation for being very strict on the rule of law, so obviously when someone says that this is a prosecution of Botswana, you take it seriously, but this prosecution is just so far below the standard that you would expect. It’s sad.”
Crucially, the Omnia investigation found there “was no evidence that $10.1bn ever left the Bank of Botswana or entered international or SA bank accounts”.
The investigation by Omnia-Alaco also found it was “impossible” for such funds to have been transferred into the international and SA bank accounts outlined in Hubona’s affidavit. This, investigators said, was because the accounts listed either “did not exist at the time of the alleged transfer; never existed at all; used bank account details that had likely been sourced through data theft; referenced illegitimate or non-existent banking institutions”.
There was also no evidence that Maswabi and Motsepe-Radebe had been cosignatories on the accounts alleged by Hubona to be part of the scheme, investigators found.
Those findings have not deterred AfriForum prosecutors Gerrie Nel and Phyllis Foster, who have been appointed by Botswana’s director of public prosecution Stephen Tiroyakgosi, from announcing on Thursday that they would be taking legal action to force SA’s justice minister, Ronald Lamola, to provide mutual legal assistance to Botswana in relation to the Maswabi prosecution.
Lamola’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri on Thursday told Business Day he disputed assertions that the government was not assisting Botswana authorities with their request, but said it would not be engaging with AfriForum on the issue because it was a “non-state actor”.
“We will continue to engage the government of Botswana through diplomatic channels as we continue to do on numerous other cases. This case will not be an exception”.
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