Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s court record and hospital file relating to her years in exile in Botswana have disappeared — either lost or missing, the Star reported on Monday.
However, the fact that Tshabalala-Msimang’s court file relating to her 1976 theft conviction, when she was the superintendent at Athlone Hospital in Lobatse, cannot be found has caused a stir in Botswana’s civil service.
Several Botswana government departments are doing their best to find it, including foreign affairs, according to Margaret Baboloki Kebakuile, a senior clerk at the Lobatse Magistrate’s Court.
She told Independent Newspapers she intended hiring casual staff to work overtime this weekend to try to locate the paperwork.
Even though Kebakuile was able to produce the case number, L218/75, she could not confirm its origin because all registers and files predating 1980 could not be located.
At a diplomatic level, the Botswana government appears to be indifferent to the media reports, adamant to maintain the executive’s non-intervention in what they see as a judicial matter.
Deputy Attorney General Lezo Ngcongco argued that ”it is none of our concern”.
According to Senior Superintendent Solomon Mantswe, the chief of Botswana police, no legal request had been filed about the case.
”The magistrate’s court and the police are two independent entities. There has not been any request from the South African authorities.
”We cannot therefore act on [the basis of] requests from the media,” he said on Saturday. — Sapa