The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporter
A PLUMTREE man believed to be a member of the secessionist movement, Mthwakazi Republic Party is wanted for questioning by the police after he allegedly played a central role in the smuggling out of Zambian and Nambian nationals through undesignated points along the Botswana border.
Mr Betwell Dube is said to have been of a syndicate that used their knowledge of the Plumtree terrain to smuggle out the group that had been in the country illegal and had participated in a number of unsanctioned meetings.
Police sources revealed that the group of foreign nationals had been invited by the MRP leadership and had initially been arrested and later released. They were ordered however not to leave the country as investigations were still ongoing.
“Our investigations established that these foreign nationals were moved to Betwell Dube’s homestead in Patse Village in Mphoengs under Chief Tshitshi, Dube then subsequently smuggled them to Botswana using undesignated points along the border.
“Efforts to locate Dube for questioning have yielded no results because he has to answer to charges of obstruction of justice and also the fact that he smuggled these people out of the country, is a crime on itself,” said the police source.
In a statement, the MRP however condemned the move, saying Dube was being persecuted for something without any sorts of evidence.
“Dube is suffering just because he is a member of the MRP nothing else, all the police are working with is hearsay, nothing else. Yes Dube is a member of our party, yes he stays in Plumtree but the rest which they are alleging is hearsay.
“As is his family is now leaving in fear because of these baseless accusations, we call on the responsible authorities to look into this rather than using such uncalled for tactics,” reads the statement
