(MISA/IFEX) – A former editor and reporter for the defunct “Okavango Observer” newspaper have been summoned to appear before the magistrate court in Botswana over a story published two years ago. On 9 December 1997, Caitlin Davies was verbally summoned by officers in the Botswana Criminal Investigations Department (CID) who visited her husband’s office in […]
(MISA/IFEX) – A former editor and reporter for the defunct
“Okavango Observer” newspaper have been summoned to appear before
the magistrate court in Botswana over a story published two years
ago. On 9 December 1997, Caitlin Davies was verbally summoned by
officers in the Botswana Criminal Investigations Department (CID)
who visited her husband’s office in Maun town. When she followed
up the matter with the police, she was ordered to report to court
the following day (10 December) and take a plea on charges of
alarming the public under Section 59 of the Alarming Publications
Act. Also summoned is the author of the article, Cobrie Kgaodi.
**Updates IFEX alert 3 September 1996**
Davies said that she has never been arrested or charged by the
police over this matter. Five months after writing the story, she
was merely interrogated and told to go home and wait for further
instructions, which was the court summons.
The 29 September 1995 edition of the “Okavango Observer”,
entitled “Terror squad shocks Maun”, reported on notorious street
gangsters identifying themselves as “Ma Western” who were beating
up and terrorising the public in Maun, a town in northern
Botswana. Maun police said the story was alarmist (see also
Background, below). Section 59 makes it an offence for any person
who publishes any false statement, rumour or report that is
likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the
public. The section does not, however, define a “false” report.
Maun District CID officer-in-charge Lefego Tshupoeng confirmed to
MISA that Davies would appear before the Magistrate to take a
plea. Tshupoeng said the case would receive its first mention on
10 December, but that trial could be set for March 1998. If found
guilty, Davies and Kgaodi could be sentenced to two years’
imprisonment or pay an unspecified fine, or both.
Background Information
On 22 January 1996, three CID officers visited the newspaper’s
offices wanting to talk to Kgaodi. Instead, police took him to
the police station for interrogation. The same day, police
summoned Davies, publisher Anne Sandenbergh and the paper’s
designer, Andrew Dooly, to give statements at Maun police
station. Only Dooly and Davies gave statements. The two also gave
the police faxed messages inquiring about the veracity of the
gangster report and the police’s faxed response. Sandenbergh
refused to go to the police station. On 23 August, Maun Police
confirmed they had prepared a docket on “Okavango Observer” in
relation to the article published. However, Davies said that the
newspaper had, on 18 September 1995, checked the facts with the
Station Commander, Morris Keaketswe, who, she said, could neither
confirm nor deny the presence of a gangster group and its
criminal acts (see IFEX alert).
The “Okavango Observer” was a privately-owned newspaper
established in 1992. It closed down in September 1997, owing to a
lack of resources.
