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Ian Khama claims there’s a plot to kill him.
PHOTO: Ron Sachs-Pool, Getty Photos
- Botswana’s authorities says former president Ian Khama is mendacity concerning the existence of a plot to kill him.
- The federal government says Khama’s allegations are soiling the nation’s status regionally and internationally.
- It says nobody is above the regulation, and President Mokgweetsi Masisi shouldn’t be linked to Khama’s alleged crimes.
The federal government of Botswana has dismissed as “outrageous” claims by former president Ian Khama that his household is beneath siege and there is a plot to assassinate him.
Khama, who left Botswana in November 2021, is in South Africa. He beforehand stated he did not flee the nation and was attending to private issues. He lately spoke to the SABC and opened up about his claims towards his nation’s authorities.
Within the interview, he stated his household had grow to be the topic of victimisation in Botswana and confronted trumped-up costs from a hostile President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
He stated:
I put him (Masisi) there. I used to be very silly. I made a mistake and I apologised to the nation.
When Khama attended the funeral of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda in March, he stated – in an obvious reference to Masisi – that “some politicians usually are not good” and added that he was being persecuted in Botswana. Masisi didn’t attend the Banda funeral.
Masisi has responded to Khama by appearing everlasting secretary for presidency communications John-Thomas Dipowe.
“The narrative that the previous president and his members of the family are being persecuted is devoid of any fact,” Dipowe stated in an announcement.
Final week, Bangwato regent Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane was suspended pending investigations into allegations of convening village kgotla conferences in Serowe to debate points pertaining to Khama and his household.
Dipowe stated it was “outrageous” that Khama even claimed that there was an assassination plot towards him. He added that Khama’s allegations had given Botswana a nasty picture.
He stated:
The federal government, due to this fact, needs to underscore that the misinformation by former president Khama stands to tarnish Botswana’s picture and her relations together with her neighbours, the African continent in addition to the worldwide group at giant.
Since leaving Botswana, Khama has been in South Africa, and travelled to Zimbabwe, Zambia and most lately Eswatini.
Khama, together with three others, is charged with 14 counts of unlawful possession of firearms in a historic case which might result in a former head of state of Botswana being jailed.
Within the assertion, Dipowe stated nobody in Botswana was above the regulation and, like another citizen, Khama ought to reply to the fees levelled towards him.
Whereas Khama at all times insisted that he was being politically persecuted, Dipowe stated Masisi had nothing to do with the fees.
“The unbiased arm of the state that handles such issues is the judiciary, and there is no manner His Excellency the President can intervene with a authorized course of that’s beneath manner, as the previous president alleges,” Dipowe added.
Based on Dipowe, they “are hopeful that this matter might be settled by astute funding in fixed dialogue”.
In Southern Africa, former heads of state comparable to Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, his successor Frederick Chiluba, Malawi’s Joyce Banda, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila, and Jacob Zuma have needed to reply for alleged crimes.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Basis. The tales produced by the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that could be contained herein don’t mirror these of the Hanns Seidel Basis.
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