It’s not true – Tema
A local farmer, Reuben Masesane Tema, and his Zimbabwean employee, Nkosilathi Moyo, are on trial at the Gaborone High Court accused of trafficking a Zimbabwean minor to work at his farm at Letswatswe lands near Lentsweletau.
It is alleged that the duo worked together to smuggle the minor from Zocholo village in Zimbabwe in December 2019, but formal charges were confirmed in 2021.
A social worker who assessed the alleged victim, Tlhopho Kebalepile, said that the minor told her that Moyo, who is his neighbour in Zimbabwe, smuggled him into the country through an ungazetted point before they boarded a vehicle to Francistown, then Lenstweletau.
“He said that he was taken to a farm with beautiful houses where a certain lady known as Mma Pretty welcomed him. He said that Mma Pretty then introduced him to Mr Tema as the owner of the farm and that he was immediately shown the sheep and goats and shown how to vaccinate them. The minor said that he was promised P800 payment per month and new clothes, but was never paid anything. Instead, he was ill-treated and forced to do other home chores,” the social worker said.
She stated that when they took the minor from Tema’s farm sometime in 2020, he appeared traumatised, distressed and confused and that he only spoke Ndebele language and did not know his age since he did not have any official identification documents on him.
He was taken to a safe place and provided with food, clothing, toiletry, and psychotherapy before a pathologist was engaged to confirm his age; he was born in 2008.
The social worker further stated that four years have passed since the minor started living in the safe house, and he has started to learn the English language since all the tenants are English speakers, and that he has developed a personal relationship with a Nigerian trafficking victim who is his age mate.
It was at this juncture that the defence attorney for the two men, Gabaikanngwe Kebalepile, started his cross-examination of the witness, accusing her of cooking up information to pin his clients to a crime they did not commit.
He said that Tema has never employed herdsmen for his small stock and only employed vegetable growers at his farm, and that he knew nothing about the alleged trafficking.
He said the witness should desist from referring to the pathologist report since she knew nothing about it, and the pathologist was yet to testify in court, and that there was no proof that the method used to establish the minor’s age had no errors.
The witness stood her ground and said that she was present when the pathologist used an X Ray machine to assess the bones, body fluids and pubic hair to establish the age of the minor, and that she was simply performing her duties to protect the child.
She said that the minor told her he was from a very poor family with no source of income.
Earlier, a witness who worked in a neighbouring farm had stated that he saw the minor tending Tema’s livestock on several occasions in 2020 before security forces intervened and took him away.
The two men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and Ndlovu is in remand while Tema is on bail.
The hearing continues.
