Botswana Government's Last Tug In Homosexuality Case
In its latest action, the Botswana government has run to the Court of Appeal to fight a High Court ruling in favor of registering the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana society.
After many years of advocacy, and back and forth court hearings, the queer community in Botswana was granted the legal right to associate and assemble freely. That was in November 2014 when the judgement was passed by Judge T. T. Rannowane of the Botswana High Court in favour of LEGABIBO. The Botswana government is now appealing this decision, according to court records on Monday, 19 January 2015.
LEGABIBO, an organisation in Botswana that was founded in 1998 to advocate for the rights of LGBTI persons, was given the go-ahead to register as a society in November. According to Anna Mmolai-Chalmers of Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and Aids, they submitted registration documents with the Registrar of Societies after the High Court ruling. The organisation’s name is an acronym which stands for Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana.
Thuto Rammoge filed the original case in 2012 seeking to have the society registered under section 72 of the Societies Act. Rammoge is listed as the ‘1st Applicant’ on the judgement document. His name is followed by nineteen others bringing the applicant total to twenty strong. The journey to that judgement was animated by everyone in the upper echelons of the Botswana Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.
LEGABIBO is currently not a registered society because the Botswana Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs officials refuse to acknowledge them. Judge T. T. Rannowane in his ruling, however, deemed that nowhere does the registration of the society “offend(s) against section 72 of the Societies Act".
Rannowane warned that “it is important not to read into the objectives some meanings that are not justified by the words used in these objectives”- referring to the LEGABIBO constitution. The Botswana government filing for an appeal case doesn’t come as a surprise to many, with Caine Youngman from Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and Aids having warned against premature celebrations last year considering the government having legal right to appeal the ruling.
The case sits in a precarious state as some newly elected members of parliament are using it to assert their beliefs that Botswana doesn’t recognise homosexuality. Judge Rannowane, however, warned in his advisory commentary that “There is no provision of [the] Botswana Constitution that expressly states that it does not recognize homosexuals. Likewise, there is no provision in the same constitution that says it recognizes heterosexuals.”
According to Mmolai-Chalmers, the Registrar of Societies is yet to respond to the application to register LEGABIBO. The Court of Appeal is yet to include the government’s appeal case on the court roll. With everything still up in the air, eyes are back on Botswana as it moves to uphold its reputation as the transparent, fair and peaceful gem of Southern Africa.
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