Bakang Seretse and co-accused lose bid to stop DCEC prosecutors in NPF case
via Mmegi1 min read
The Broadhurst Regional Magistrate's Court dismissed an application by businessman Bakang Seretse and four co-accused challenging the authority of prosecutors in the National Petroleum Fund NPF criminal case. Magistrate Mareledi Dipate ruled on June 30, 2026, that the prosecution team, led by Deputy Director of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime DCEC Thabo Malambane, had the legal authority to proceed. This decision allows the criminal proceedings to continue against Seretse, Sharifa Noor, Alphonse Molamu Ndzinge, Kgori Capital Pty Ltd, and Kgori Holdings Pty Ltd, who face a 63-count indictment including charges of stealing by agent, forgery, conspiracy to defraud, and money laundering. The ruling focused solely on the prosecutors' authority and did not address the merits of the criminal charges themselves.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Mmegi.
The legal dispute concerning Botswana's P1.5 billion Ncojane Water Supply Works project has intensified, with Tawana Joint Venture seeking to hold senior government officials in contempt of court. The consortium, comprising G4 Civils Pty Ltd, Landmark Projects Pty Ltd, and Asphalt Botswana Pty Ltd, alleges that officials failed to comply with High Court and Court of Appeal judgments that, according to Tawana Joint Venture, mandated the award of the contract to them. The current application before the High Court's Justice Tapiwa Kganyago also includes a preliminary legal challenge regarding the Attorney General's authority to represent Deputy Permanent Secretary Boikhutso Botlhole and Deputy Permanent Secretary Nchidzi Mmolawa in their personal capacities. The consortium argues that the requirements of Section 6 of the State Proceedings Act have not been met for such representation. The Ncojane Water Supply Works project aims to improve water supply in the Charles Hill and Kgalagadi North Districts and has been subject to litigation since Tawana Joint Venture challenged the procurement process and the decision preventing them from securing the tender, ultimately succeeding in their legal challenge.
Bakang Seretse and his co-accused are appealing a Magistrate's Court decision that upheld the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime's DCEC power to charge and prosecute them. The appeal challenges whether the DCEC has the constitutional authority to prosecute criminal cases and if the prosecution was lawfully initiated. Seretse, Sharifa Noor, Alphonse Molamu Ndzinge, Kgori Capital Pty Ltd, and Kgori Holdings Pty Ltd face a 63-count indictment, including charges of stealing by an agent, forgery, conspiracy to defraud, and money laundering. The appellants argue that the DCEC is an investigative body, not a prosecutorial one, and that the Constitution vests prosecutorial authority solely in the Director of Public Prosecutions DPP and their subordinates.
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