•    Some items should not be on the bill – Assistant Registrar
•    Final amount likely to be less than P300 000

Former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Secretary General, Mr. Gomolemo Motswaledi,  is expected not to pay more than half of the bill that President Ian Khama’s lawyers, Collins and Newman, had presented to the Lobatse High Court Senior Assistant Registrar, Ms. Tebogo Tau, for taxation purposes.

Debating each item on the bill Tau noted that some of the items were duplicated and she had scrapped them off. In particular she cited attendances by attorneys Parks Tafa and Lawrence Khupe - for Khama - on the same day.

“We will have to ascertain who attended what and which attorney drafted which documents because I will not be allocating fees for two attorneys. I will only allow fees for one attorney,” she said. She added that in some instances the client and the attorney had to bear the costs, suggesting that some of the items should not have been on the bill.

“We will also have to deal with this issue on the basis of each item because in some instances it is duplication of items,” she said.

The result may be that the legal fees that Motswaledi eventually pays could be far less than what Khama’s attorneys had claimed on their tax bill. Most of the items were scaled down to half; it is expected that the amount will not be more than P300 000.

The legal fees arise from cases in which Motswaledi had challenged his suspension from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), and recall by President Ian Khama as the Party’s parliamentary candidate in Gaborone Central; he lost both his petition and appeal.

Tau is expected to deliver her ruling on the 27th August.

Motswaledi was represented by Advocate Sydney Pilane, while Khama was represented by Bokani Machinya of the Collins and Newman law firm.