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court found that customary law offended<br />
against Section 3 of the Constitution of<br />
Botswana on equal protection of the law.<br />
In the watershed case that was celebrated<br />
internationally, customary law was tossed<br />
aside for discriminating against women<br />
purely on the basis of their sex by singling<br />
out the lastborn son “as instestate heir to the<br />
exclusion of his siblings”.<br />
But if women are regarded as the soft<br />
underbelly of society that needs to be<br />
protected, children and the youth are<br />
much more vulnerable. For that reason,<br />
Kewagamang was both professionally and<br />
personally involved when it emerged in<br />
May last year that a local councillor had<br />
impregnated a teenager in Sebina. She<br />
took “the biggest risk of my life” when she<br />
and others mounted the #IshallNotForget<br />
campaign in an effort to protect children<br />
against sexual marauders. Several of them<br />
were detained - though briefly - as they stood<br />
with protest placards at key intersections<br />
around Gaborone, but Kewagamang<br />
believes their point was made.<br />
The firm is at the forefront of labour<br />
issues in a country where organised labour<br />
is viewed with circumspection – even<br />
distaste – and this could have repercussions.<br />
Kewagamang is aware of the possibility of<br />
such an outcome but is unfazed because<br />
the firm receives a fair share of government<br />
business, especially consultancies. “Up to<br />
30% of our consultancy work has come<br />
from the government,” she says. “But we get<br />
very little litigation work outsourced by the<br />
government.<br />
“Labour is an area that has evolved to<br />
become a key aspect of the firm’s culture. We<br />
are keenly aware that when there is bound<br />
to be collision when you advance rights.<br />
Nevertheless, rights have to be advanced<br />
and we are happy that labour rights are<br />
becoming entrenched in our country. And<br />
this is happening in an environment that has<br />
little support in terms of the protest culture<br />
that we see in neighbouring countries. It<br />
has been a difficult learning curve on both<br />
sides, but the future looks quite good for<br />
organised labour.”<br />
Kewagamang says the firm is unshakable<br />
in its human rights orientation. A deliberate<br />
decision not to handle hard core criminal<br />
cases so as to better play an upright role in<br />
society was made early on. “Only 5% of our<br />
work load entails criminal cases, and even<br />
so nothing of the smoking gun stuff,” she<br />
explains. “It is mostly traffic offences.<br />
This dovetails well into her background<br />
in pro bono work at UB Legal Clinic, as<br />
well as her involvement with Somarelang<br />
Tikologo where she is a board member and<br />
at Ntebogang Junior Secondary School in<br />
Kanye where the firm encourages good<br />
grades by means of prizes. Because of her<br />
zest for progressive work, this woman is a<br />
part of Trust Law Connect that helps NGOs<br />
access lawyers internationally.<br />
So far an exception to the rule on giving<br />
a wide berth to criminal cases has been<br />
the forbidding matter of John Kalafatis, a<br />
young man of Greek extraction who was<br />
gunned down gangland style one May<br />
night in Gaborone in 2009. Kewagamang<br />
describes that episode as “the lowest point<br />
in Botswana’s democracy” and one that<br />
prompted Batswana, an otherwise passive<br />
lot, to express their outrage and take a stand<br />
on the side of due process and the rule of law.<br />
“We have systems for a reason,” she notes.<br />
“While some people say Kalafatis was a<br />
criminal, we don’t know that because he was<br />
charged and tried. It becomes something<br />
else when anyone is killed by an organ of the<br />
government.’’<br />
Soldiers Goitsemang Sechele, Ronny<br />
Matako and Boitshiko Maifala were<br />
ultimately convicted of the murder of<br />
Kalafatis in June 2011. However, they<br />
received a Presidential Pardon and<br />
were eventually reinstated, prompting<br />
protestation from Ditshwanelo and<br />
nationwide dismay. Kewagamang is among<br />
lawyers who got involved at various stages<br />
of the case.<br />
At another level, Kewagamang is<br />
concerned that persistent allegations<br />
about the executive arm of government<br />
intermeddling in the judiciary will erode<br />
confidence in the country’s judicial system.<br />
More importantly, she holds that public<br />
interviews of candidates before judges were<br />
appointed would enhance such confidence.<br />
“We do not even<br />
know the procedure<br />
of appointing judges<br />
of the Court of<br />
Appeal.”<br />
But what does the feminist think of<br />
the male – female divide as crystallised<br />
by the treat to kill law? “A lot of men do<br />
not know how to deal with a<br />
strong woman,” she avers.<br />
“While empowering<br />
women, we left the<br />
boy child out and<br />
now this boy child<br />
does not know<br />
how to handle<br />
the empowered<br />
woman.”<br />
Being a social<br />
activist, this 36-year old woman is a jurist<br />
with a conscience. She is a trustee of Law<br />
Fidelity Fund Guarantee, a board member<br />
of Legal Aid Botswana, a board member<br />
of Somarela Tikologo Environment Watch,<br />
and a non- executive director of More Power<br />
Investments.<br />
Above all, she is a wife and a mother,<br />
her marriage to Osego Garebamono, also<br />
a lawyer, proving productive in the form<br />
of their children, Tawanda and Lefika.<br />
Kewagamang wants it known that she is<br />
also a farmer through Smartest (Pty) Ltd.,<br />
a horticulture business that is planning to<br />
go into hydroponic farming as well. “We<br />
have collaborated with a US franchise<br />
in hydroponics,” she explains. “We have<br />
already ordered the equipment which we<br />
will set up at the farm as a demo facility. The<br />
equipment will be for sale.”<br />
Hydroponics, she explains, is a method of<br />
growing plants without soil.<br />
STOP PRESS!<br />
On the day that this edition went<br />
to press, 19 April 2017, attorney<br />
Omphemetse Motumise was on course<br />
to be appointed High Court judge, two<br />
years after the President Ian Khama<br />
turned down a recommendation of<br />
the Judicial Service Commission to<br />
do so.<br />
The Law Society of Botswana and<br />
Motumise added another landmark<br />
victory at the Court of Appeal for<br />
Rantao Kewagamang Attorneys.<br />
24<br />
www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>12</strong> | 2017