Says the stock theft case is politically motivated
QUEEN MOSARWE
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) MP for Nata/Gweta Polson Majaga says some members of his party are behind the under-hand tactics at play in the stock theft case hanging over his head.
Majaga claims that his detractors are “big people” in the party who he is aware of. He says they were hellbent on de-campaigning him in his constituency. “They plot tactics to discredit me before the electorates, but they should try harder because what they have is insubstantial,” he warned.
The MP appeared before the magistrate courts last week accused in a stock theft case dating back to 2006. Majaga and four others are said to have been on, 16th August 2006, at Komtsia cattle post near Dukwi- found in possession of a cow suspected to be stolen.
Last year, news broke that the MP had customarily married a 24 -year -old young lady in a conspiracy to conceal the fact that he had impregnated her as a minor.
“These cases are politically motivated and it’s unfortunate that it is the people within my party pushing them. They tarnish my name telling the constituents that they should not vote for a thief like me,” he said in an interview with this publication.
According to Majaga, the stock theft case was withdrawn and ruled on four times in the past after it resurfaced, having also reached the High Court. The case, he explained, began in 2006 while he was still a councilor and popped up after the 2009 general elections. “They won’t just let go of me,” he said, stating that he was well aware why the matter had become a dark cloud hanging his head. “Two weeks before the 2014 general elections, the case resurfaced and I learnt from my informants that the plan was to have me locked up in jail during the elections so that by the time I come back, I would have found people having voted,” he said, further accusing members of his party for ‘buying’ prosecutors.
“They do not want me because the say am uncontrollable.” He says the same people already have someone they want to replace him with at the constituency: “ The case has resurfaced yet again and its reason this time around is that we are moving towards the primaries and electing structures and they do not want me because they cannot influence me,” he explained, adding, “ I take decisions I see beneficial for my constituency as I promised to serve them when they voted for me. I do not take decisions because I want to be somebody’s puppet,” he lashed out.
The businessman-cum-legislator says he was never moved by the stock theft case because, “I come from a family of many cows. My father gave me my first cows when I was five years old, so I cannot be accused of stock theft when I have hundreds of them. They could have accused me of something else but not stock theft. I would be a disgrace to the Majaga family if I was to steal a cow or cows,” he declared, revealing that he was instituting a case against government.