Justice Rannoane throws out BONELA’s case

Gaborone High Court Judge Terrence Rannoane has this week dismissed with costs a case in which Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) wanted two Permanent Secretaries jailed for contempt of court.

Through their lawyer Tshiamo Rantao, BONELA wanted Rannoane to order that PS for Health Shenaaz El-Halabi and PS for Defence, Justice and Secutity, Segakweng Tsiane, be held in civil contempt of last year’s judgment delivered by Justice Bengbame Sechele. Sechele had ordered the government to provide Anti-retroviral treatment (ARV) to non-citizen inmates whose CD4 cell counts have reached the threshold. Their case was an urgent application. Judge Rannoane said the urgency was self-created and that BONELA has been sleeping on their rights for the past seven months.

BONELA had in the previous appearance argued that they had only realised that the state is not complying with the court order when they were served with court papers from Attorney General on stay of execution application. The government on the other hand had argued that it is not sustainable to provide treatment to foreign inmates. “BONELA does not have any intention of embarrassing any senior government officials or President Ian Khama. We want the court order to be followed and those who are failing to honour it to be held for contempt of court,” said Rantao in the previous appearance. Speaking in an interview with Rantao’s assistant, Tefo Gaongalelwe said, “We are disappointed that we did not get the order we wanted. But we are going to sit down with our client to see what we can do regarding this judgement.”

The Executive Director of BONELA, Cindy Kelemi also said they were disappointed with the judgement. “As for now we are still going to sit down with our lawyer to see what we can do regarding this,” she said. In a supporting affidavit, one inmate said he had been told by prison officials at Central Prison in Gaborone that he would not be receiving any ARV treatment from the government. “I was told that I will still need to buy my own HAART medication,” the prisoner said. “My understanding was that the order had to be complied with immediately.” Appearing for the government, state counsel Neo Sharp said that it would be expensive for the government to provide ARVs to foreign inmates.  He denied that the government had ignored the court order compelling it to provide foreign prisoners in Botswana jails with ARVs.

“It is quite strange that the applicant says we took seven months doing nothing about the order,” Sharp said. “In fact, the reason is that we are waiting for a court decision because it (the matter) is at the Court of Appeal. We wonder whose interest the applicant is representing because the inmates in this matter were released a month before the order was issued.” On August 22 last year, Justice Sechele delivered an order that compelled the government to provide ARVs to two Zimbabweans and other non-Batswana inmates whose CD4 counts had reached the threshold for such treatment.