In the media
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11 September 2014
Daily Maverick
Our Home Affairs department has recently been in the news for its valiant attempts to keep people out of South Africa. Now, it’s suddenly in the news for throwing them out illegally. That may not matter to many South Africans: if someone gets deported home, good riddance, they may say. But in the case of Edwin Samotse, it’s literally a matter of life and death. He was illegally deported to Botswana last month, where he is wanted for murder. Botswana uses the death penalty, and in this case has refused to rule it out. By STEPHEN GROOTES.
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10 September 2014
Times Live
Botswana citizen Edwin Samotse - now possibly languishing in jail in that country - is the subject of frantic cross-border diplomatic efforts to save him from execution if he is convicted of murder.
The Botswana government sought Samotse's extradition after learning he had slipped into South Africa. South Africa refused to repatriate him when Botswana would not give assurances that he would not be sentenced to death if convicted.
But, because of what seems to have been a bungle by Home Affairs, Samotse was deported to his home country.
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9 September 2014
SABC News
The illegal deportation of a Botswana national who could face the death penalty is being investigated, the Home Affairs department said.
Edwin Samotse is accused of murder in his home country, spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said in a statement.
Two home affairs officials have been suspended for allegedly arranging his transfer back to Botswana on August 13 without authority to do so.
Samotse was in custody at the Polokwane police station while the Botswana government sought his extradition.
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8 September 2014
South African Press Association
The illegal deportation of a Botswana man who could face the death penalty is being investigated, the home affairs department said on Tuesday.
Edwin Samotse is accused of murder in his home country, spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said in a statement.
Two home affairs officials have been suspended for allegedly arranging his transfer back to Botswana on August 13 without authority to do so.
Samotse was in custody at the Polokwane police station while the Botswana government sought his extradition.
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8 September 2014
Pretoria News
The life of a Botswana national is hanging in the balance after the Home Affairs Department deported him to his home country were he is facing capital punishment.
Lawyers for Human Rights have now taken up Edwin Samotse’s cause and is taking the department to the high court following the deportation. Lawyers for Human Right’s David Cote said Samotse was deported to Botswana despite an order from the Justice Department that he may not be extradited.
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5 September 2014
Times Live
The bubbly 12-year-old speaking animatedly from her hospital bed barely resembles the girl who made headlines in July when her brother went to court to save her life.
The young girl’s plight was revealed after her 26-year-old brother went to the Pretoria High Court to get his sister admitted to Pretoria’s Steve Biko Academic Hospital for a life-saving heart operation.
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4 September 2014
South African Press Association
The arms deal commission says it will issue subpoenas to the three witnesses who recently quit the inquiry.
The Seriti commission of inquiry will issue subpoenas to the three arms deal critics who withdrew from participation, it said on Wednesday.
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1 September 2014
SABC Forum @ 8
You may need: Adobe Flash Player. On the Forum@8 this morning we discuss the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal - Which critics say is a "farce" and "must be dissolved".
The commission, chaired by Judge Willie Seriti, was appointed by President Jacob Zuma three years ago to investigate alleged corruption in the 1999 arms deal. Recently three arms deal critics withdrew from the proceedings as they believed the commission had missed its opportunity to support the struggle for transparency and accountability.
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29 August 2014
Talk Radio 702
Andrew Feinstein speaks to Talk Radio 702's Redi Tlhabi about withdrawing from the Arms Deal Commission
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29 August 2014
Business Day
Three prominent critics of South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal have withdrawn their names from the Seriti commission witness list, saying the inquiry is "no longer salvageable" and is being used to discredit crucial witnesses to endorse the state’s version of events.
Former African National Congress (ANC) MP Andrew Feinstein, with arms deal critics Hennie van Vuuren and Paul Holden, said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday that they had told the commission they would not testify before it.
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