(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 May 1999, Botswana’s deputy attorney general, Abedenego Batshani Tafa, declined to proceed with a threatened injunction against “Mmegi” newspaper following assurances from the paper that he was not being mentioned in the latest edition. On 25 May, Tafa threatened to bring an injunction against the paper after apparently being privy to […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 May 1999, Botswana’s deputy attorney general, Abedenego
Batshani Tafa, declined to proceed with a threatened injunction against
“Mmegi” newspaper following assurances from the paper that he was not being
mentioned in the
latest edition.
On 25 May, Tafa threatened to bring an injunction against the paper after
apparently being privy to a list of questions the newspaper had faxed to the
attorney general, Phandu Skelemani. The questions were part of an
investigative story about a self-confessed fraudster, Nicholas Zakhem of Zac
Construction.
The questions to the attorney general concerned alleged actions by Tafa in
his capacity as deputy attorney general. One question asked: “In a nutshell,
what were the contents of the letter which the deputy Attorney General wrote
to the Central Tender Board advising them that Zac Construction can tender
for Government jobs?”
The second question went: “Can you deny that the letter emanating from the
deputy Attorney General to the Central Tender Board (CTB) regarding the
innocence of Zac Construction played a major role in influencing the CTB
decision to award the tender to Zac?”
On being made privy to these questions, Tafa instructed his lawyers to send
a letter to “Mmegi”, accusing the paper of having published “gross
defamatory articles” about Tafa since 12 March of this year. The letter went
on to say: “Accordingly, our client has reason to believe, given your past
seemingly irresponsible, careless and untrustworthy conduct, that your
newspaper intends on publishing during this week or subsequent thereto,
further defamatory articles appertaining to him. The purpose of this letter
is therefore to require a firm undertaking in writing from yourselves, that
this is indeed not the case, and that you will not publish during this week
or at any other time in the future, articles defamatory of our client and/or
seeking to connect our client to the widely publicised Nicholas Zakhem
corruption scandal or indeed in relation to any other defamatory matter.”
The letter went on: “In the event that we do not receive your written
undertaking as aforesaid by tomorrow 26 May 1999 at 11:00 am, we will assume
that your newspaper has no intention of desisting from your unlawful and
wrongful conduct and the campaign, started on 12 March 1999, to continually
vilify and defame our client. An application for an urgent interim interdict
will then be launched in the High Court to prevent publication or
circulation of the newspaper due to come out on Thursday afternoon 27 May
1999, or at any time subsequent thereto which would have the effect of
causing further damage to our client’s reputation.”
“Mmegi” news editor Mike Mothibi told MISA that, in response to the lawyer’s
letter, the newspaper informed the lawyers that they would not run the story
this week as the questions sent to the attorney general had still not been
answered. However, the paper stressed that there was no guarantee that the
information uncovered so far, including that about Tafa, would not be
published later.
