South African Press Agency / Rick Halperin News

SOUTH AFRICA/BOTSWANA:Botswana criminals flee to SA

2 Botswana men detained in connection with murder and rape in their country and who handed themselves over to South African police after escaping from custody in Lobatse could be extradited, officials said on Monday. Senior Superintendent Pieter du Plessis said by their own admission one man faced a murder charge and the other a rape charge. Jimmy Gboitaolelwe, 32 and Lebati Umhlanga, 19, surrendered to police at Lehurutshe in the North West on Sunday and appeared in the town's magistrate's court on Monday on charges under the Aliens Control Act. Prosecutors said the men were remanded and would appear in court again on November 7. One of the suspects told police he did not want to return to Botswana as he could face the death penalty if convicted there. Du Plessis and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the men could be extradited if Botswana applied for their handing over through the established channels. Whether they could be extradited would be decided by a court in terms of the Extradition Act. Mamoepa said the court would have to decide whether their alleged offenses were extraditable and whether they faced the death penalty in Botswana.

In terms of a recent Constitutional Court decision, South Africa cannot extradite anyone to a country where they face the death penalty unless there is an agreement that they will not face the ultimate sanction. The court ruled in May that the government acted unconstitutionally when it handed over Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a Tanzanian, to the US where he faced the death penalty. He has since been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in his country. The court said South Africa could not expose anyone to the risk of execution, whether by deportation or extradition. Justice Ministry spokesperson Paul Setsetse said the 2 men had to be treated differently from ordinary illegal immigrants as it was known that they were wanted in connection with serious offences in their country of origin. Illegal immigrants are usually arrested and charged with entering the country unlawfully, but seldom appear in court as they are deported straight away. In this case, a court may have to decide whether they can be sent back to Botswana in the usual way. Setsetse said such decisions were made independently of requests for extradition under the appropriate law. He also reaffirmed South Africa's commitment to rooting out cross border crime. Criminals thinking South Africa had become a safe haven because of the Constitutional Court decision were making a mistake, he said.

Afsud-Botswana-justice  Un Botswanais passe en Afrique du Sud pour echapper a la peine de  mort 

 JOHANNESBURG, 29 oct  - Un detenu suspecte de meurtre au Botswana  s'est echappe et est passe en Afrique du Sud ce week-end pour echapper a la  peine de mort dans son pays, a indique lundi un porte-parole de la police.

 Le commissaire Pieter du Plessis a explique que l'homme s'etait echappe  samedi a l'occasion d'un controle medical a Lobatse, une localite du  Botswana situee non loin de la frontiere sud-africaine, en compagnie d'un  autre detenu accuse de viol.

 Les deux Botswanais se sont livres eux-memes a la police sud-africaine  dimanche.

 "L'un des fugitifs est en prison pour meurtre, l'autre pour viol. Ils  ont comparu en justice aujourd'hui au titre de la loi sur le controle de  l'immigration", a indique M. du Plessis a l'AFP.

 Les deux suspects ont comparu lundi matin devant le tribunal de  Lehurutshe (province du nord-ouest) qui leur a refuse la liberte sous  caution.

 Le porte-parole du ministere sud-africain de la justice, Paul Setsetse a  indique a la radio SABC que l'Afrique du Sud n'avait pas recu lundi en  milieu de journee de demande d'extradition de la part du Botswana.

 M. Setsetse a souligne que l'Afrique du Sud ne pouvait extrader des  personnes accusees de crime que si elle avait la garantie que les suspects  ne risquaient pas la peine de mort.

 "Nous ne pouvons pas renvoyer un suspect a un pays qui pratique la peine  de mort, a moins que nous n'ayions l'assurance que cette personne ne sera  pas executee", a explique le porte-parole.

 En mai dernier, la Cour constitutionnelle avait juge que l'Afrique du  Sud avait extrade inconstitutionnellement vers les Etats-Unis Khalfan Khamis  Mohamed, l'un des accuses des attentats l'un des quatre hommes accuses de  complicite dans les attentats de 1998 contre deux ambassades americaines en  Afrique.