A court in Botswana cleared a mining company leader of corruption charges on Friday. The High Court said claims against Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe were completely false. Judges ordered the government worker who made the accusations to say sorry publicly. Motsepe-Radebe runs Mmakau Mining and belongs to a powerful South African family. Her relatives are the country's first lady and a billionaire businessman.
The trouble started back in 2019 when someone accused Motsepe-Radebe of stealing money with former president Ian Khama. Officials claimed she helped move billions of dollars through secret bank accounts. They said the pair wanted to cause riots and take over the government. A British law company looked at all the evidence in 2020 and found nothing wrong. The investigators could not prove any of their claims were true.
Jako Hubona works for Botswana's anti-corruption agency and kept repeating the false stories. He told people that Motsepe-Radebe signed papers for bank accounts full of stolen money. The court called his words harmful lies that damaged her reputation. Hubona must print a public notice within seven days taking back everything he said. South African banks also denied that Motsepe-Radebe ever controlled any suspicious accounts.
Khama led Botswana for ten years until 2018 when he picked Mokgweetsi Masisi as his replacement. The two men later became enemies over how to run the country. Masisi lost his job last year when voters chose Duma Boko as their new president.
The trouble started back in 2019 when someone accused Motsepe-Radebe of stealing money with former president Ian Khama. Officials claimed she helped move billions of dollars through secret bank accounts. They said the pair wanted to cause riots and take over the government. A British law company looked at all the evidence in 2020 and found nothing wrong. The investigators could not prove any of their claims were true.
Jako Hubona works for Botswana's anti-corruption agency and kept repeating the false stories. He told people that Motsepe-Radebe signed papers for bank accounts full of stolen money. The court called his words harmful lies that damaged her reputation. Hubona must print a public notice within seven days taking back everything he said. South African banks also denied that Motsepe-Radebe ever controlled any suspicious accounts.
Khama led Botswana for ten years until 2018 when he picked Mokgweetsi Masisi as his replacement. The two men later became enemies over how to run the country. Masisi lost his job last year when voters chose Duma Boko as their new president.
