(MISA/IFEX) – The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Ponatshego Kedikilwe and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Deputy Treasury, Satar Dada, have launched a libel law suit against the proprietor of the “Botswana Guardian” and editor Outsa Mokone. The two are demanding P1 million (approx. US$4,670,000) each in damages. This follows a story published by […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The Minister of Finance and Development Planning,
Ponatshego Kedikilwe and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Deputy
Treasury, Satar Dada, have launched a libel law suit against the
proprietor of the “Botswana Guardian” and editor Outsa Mokone.
The two are demanding P1 million (approx. US$4,670,000) each in damages.
This follows a story published by the “Guardian” dated 4 September 1998,
questioning a P51 million (approx. US$239,000,000) government grant to
an Indonesian investor who bought Dada’s textile factory.
The legal action was filed with the High Court of Botswana on 26 January
1999 but was only received by the defendants the following week. The two
claimed that the story was defamatory and they specifically questioned
the article headlines and its teaser (sub-head).
The MISA Botswana office reports that Mokone informed them that the
“Guardian” had also received intimidating threats and that there are
attempts to starve the newspaper of advertising. Mokone said that
advertisements they had anticipated for their motoring supplement, were
summarily canceled without notice. He went on to say that he was
reliably informed that the BDP secretariat had been told to not place
advertisements, dealing with BDP’s candidates nominated to stand for
primary elections, with the “Guardian” newspaper.
Mokone informed MISA Botswana that, initially, the complainants had
demanded an outright apology that the story was defamatory but the
newspaper refused on grounds of it being an unreasonable demand.
The date for the case has not been set.
