Mohalenyane Phakela
A PRIVATE security officer has paid a heavy price for hurling misogynistic insults at the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Hlalefang Motinyane.
The officer, Teboho Seakhi, was on Monday sentenced to two years imprisonment or a fine of M3000 for using derogatory language against DPP Motinyane.
Maseru magistrate Teboho Thoso sentenced Seakhi after the latter pleaded guilty to the charge of contravening section 31 of Internal Security Act of 1984.
According to the Act, “a person who uses obscene, abusive, threatening or insulting language, or swears, shouts, screams or otherwise conducts himself in a manner that gives, or is likely to give such provocation to any person as to cause such person to break the peace or to commit any offence against the person, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of four hundred Maloti or to imprisonment for one year or to both”.
It was the state’s case that on 2 December 2021, DPP Motinyane came across Seakhi during her usual running exercise along Mpilo Boulevard near the National Security Services (NSS) offices. Seakhi then uttered the following derogatory words, “hey slender, matha ngoanak’a. Iketse tsopane tle ke u fumane u le tsopane (loosely translated as “hey slender, keep running babe. Make yourself tight because I want to find you tight like a virgin”).
Narrating the incident in her police statement, DPP Motinyane says she immediately stopped running and confronted Seakhi after he had uttered the obscene words.
Instead of apologising and retracting, Seakhi repeated his insults, DPP Motinyane states.
“I then waved at my bodyguard, Police Constable (PC) Matakalatse, who was just a short distance from where I was standing with this man (Seakhi). When he (PC Matakalatse) got to us, this man said he had only been teasing me. PC Matakalatse tried to approach him but he started running around our vehicle.
“He (Seakhi) then got into a cab but an army officer came and told him to get out of the car. We then took him to the (Maseru Central) Charge Office. I must mention that the man was carrying a rifle,” DPP Motinyane states. She said she regularly ran as a form of exercise and this was not the first time that Seakhi had insulted her in that manner.
DPP Motinyane’s account was corroborated by PC Matakalatse who also submitted a written statement at the police station.
After pleading guilty, Seakhi apologised to DPP Motinyane and begged for leniency. In mitigation, he told the court that he was the sole breadwinner who had to provide for his wife and three children.
Magistrate Thoso then sentenced Seakhi to a fine of M3000 or two years imprisonment for the offence.
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