Former Botswana president Khama asks court to set aside arrest warrant

Botswana’s former president Ian Khama has filed an urgent court application seeking to strike down the arrest warrant a magistrate issued against him last week.

Khama, whose father Seretse Khama was Botswana’s founding president, is in dispute with his successor and incumbent President Mokgweetsi Masisi, which resulted in him quitting the ruling Botswana Democratic Party in 2019.

The magistrate issued the warrant after Khama did not appear in court to answer charges laid against him in April. They include unlawful possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and procuring the registration of a firearm by false pretence.

Khama has been living in SA since November 2021.

Khama asked the high court in Gaborone for the warrant against him to be set aside or for its execution to be stayed, citing lack of evidence for his prosecution, according to court papers released on Thursday.

“The warrant of arrest threatens my right to liberty in circumstances where I have committed no crime should this warrant of arrest not be stayed or set aside … I would suffer irreparable harm which cannot be compensated for in any form,” he said in the filing.

His lawyer said Khama is still waiting to be given a date for the hearing. Khama has missed court appearances since he was charged in April, saying he feared for his life in Botswana.

Khama is the patron of a splinter political party, the Botswana Patriotic Front.

Reuters