University of Botswana History Department
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Prof. Ken Good is declared a prohibited immigrant
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Sun. 20 February 2005. Prof. Kenneth A. Good, a professor of political science at the University of Botswana, has been declared a prohibited immigrant. This was announced to the University by the Vice Chancellor on the morning of Saturday 19 Feb. in an email circular sent at 11.46 a.m. It has been reported by Botswana TV that lawyers have since then obtained a court order delaying deportation pending a hearing.
[Note added 24 Feb.: the order was delivered to Prof. Good at 5 p.m. on Friday, with a 48-hour deadline. It was therefore intended that Prof. Good would be out of the country before Monday.]
Mon. 21 Feb. 2005. A meeting of UB academic staff was held at 5 p.m. today and passed the following resolutions:
[* This refers to a seminar paper entitled "Presidential succession in Botswana: No model for Africa" which Prof. Good was due to present on Wednesday.]
Tuesday 22 Feb. 2005. The Acting Vice Chancellor, B.S. Mguni, sent an email circular at 9.31 a.m. stating that he had read the statement issued after the meeting of UB academic staff (see above) but that "no arrangement has been made for the Vice Chancellor to address staff at 9 a.m. today." He made no reference to the questions of academic freedom raised in the statement.
The academic staff union reported in a circular sent at 12.23 p.m. that "the Office of the President has responded negatively to our request to deliver a petition to the Office".
In an email circular sent 5.42 p.m. the Acting Vice Chancellor
stated
* that he had not come as invited at 9 a.m. because
he already had a committee meeting scheduled.
* that the UB management could not comment on
the expulsion because the government had acted without
giving any reasons
* that the pending court case meant the matter was sub judice,
which was another reason the administration could not
comment.
It has been reported that the court hearing, which was held at Lobatse this afternoon, was adjourned till tomorrow (Wednesday). (The High Court had initially set a date of 7 March for the hearing but it was then brought forward.)
According to a report on the IRIN* website about the deportation order,
entitled "Leading academic faces deportation", the Presidential
press secretary Dr Jeff Ramsay stated that
"we cannot comment on prohibited immigrant's cases.
All I can say is that he [Good] has been declared a
prohibited immigrant by the president".
[*IRIN is a United Nations news service.]
Weds 23 Feb. 2005 The court hearing was deferred again till tomorrow (Thursday) to allow more time for the examination of documents.
At 4 p.m. Prof. Kenneth Good presented his paper "Presidential succession in Botswana: No model for Africa". Due to the high level of interest, the venue (originally to have been a small seminar room) was changed first to the Old Staff Lounge, and then to a large lecture theatre in block 240. The room was completely packed, with people standing in the sides, aisles, front and back. Large numbers of students as well as staff attended. A senior diplomat from the United States Embassy also attended.
By today reports of the deportation order had begun to appear in the international media. The BBC reported (Wednesday, 23 February, 2005, 16:58 GMT) that "Mr Good appears to have angered authorities with a leaked paper suggesting that Botswana is not a model for democracy in Africa." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4291429.stm) Some of the main points of his paper have been quoted in reports such as that in AllAfrica.com (http://allafrica.com/stories/200502230355.html). Meanwhile, the Botswana Daily News (the state-owned daily news service), which normally produces a daily online bulletin, seems to have had technical problems, as it has not put a bulletin online since the deportation order, stating on its web-site that "News updates were unavailable on the following dates: 23 Feb 2005, 22 Feb 2005, 21 Feb 2005".
Thursday 24 Feb. 2005. There was further legal argument at the High Court. According to a Botswana TV report, the government's lawyers argued that (under the relevant Act of Parliament) the deportation order could not be examined by the courts, while Prof. Good's lawyers argued that the Constitution nevertheless gave him the right to appeal. The court is expected to give a ruling on Monday (28 Feb.)
The independent local daily newspaper Mmegi today printed an abridged version of the paper Prof. Good presented on Wednesday (under the title "What democracy?", Mmegi, Thursday 24 February 2005, vol. 22, no. 30, pp. 6-7); online at http://www.mmegi.bw/2005/February/Thursday24/5978742201067.html. See also Mmegi's report of Prof. Good's presentation. Increasing numbers of reports have been appearing in the international media, notably in Australia. The Botswana Daily News has now put online a report (dated 21 Feb.) of the deportation order, which states among other things that "When contacted for comment, Attorney General Ian Kirby pleaded ignorance about the order".
Monday 28 Feb. 2005. The High Court ruled this morning that it does have jurisdiction over Prof. Good's appeal against deportation. (The state had argued that the court had no authority in the matter since a presidential decree had been issued.) The court ruled that Prof. Good may remain in the country while his lawyers challenge the constitutionality of the deportation.
[Note added Tuesday:] The Daily News reports that while the government had sought to have the matter dealt with urgently, "Delivering judgement, Justice Stanley Sapire said the matter was of no special urgency and would be open for either of the two parties to make an application to the Chief Justice to have the matter on the motion roll."]
Wednesday 2 March 2005. The Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lt. Gen. Mompati Merafhe, is reported to have stated that the decision to deport Prof. Good was not connected with his paper "Presidential succession in Botswana: No model for Africa". However he refused to give any information as to what the reason was. He had also refused to tell the Australian ambassador to South Africa.
Wednesday 4 May 2005. [Notes progressively updated 4-6 May]. The court case opened yesterday in Lobatse. Prof. Good's lawyers argued that the provisions of the Immigration Act which had been used to order Prof. Good's deportation were invalid under the Botswana Constitution since they denied the person affected a hearing. Reference was also made to international human rights agreements to which Botswana was a signatory. The Attorney General, Ian Kirby, however, argued that international agreements had no effect in Botswana unless they had been incorporated into Botswana law.
The Attorney General is reported as having described Prof. Good's writing on Botswana politics as "ill researched, vindictive, shallow, unbalanced and lacking in any comparative analysis." He is also reported as having stated that "In a conservative country like Botswana, we take Botho [see note] seriously and therefore would not introduce treaties that would allow people to say shocking, disturbing and dangerous statements", but that "implications that Good's deportation was based on a paper he presented on presidential succession in Botswana was whistling in the graveyard."
Tuesday 31 May 2005. The Botswana High Court today ruled against Prof. Good's case. Immediately afterwards, Prof. Good was taken away by officials and his whereabouts is unknown.
Wednesday 1 June 2005. It is reported that Prof. Good was deported to South Africa last night. The Australian newspaper The Age reports that Prof. Good is now in Pretoria "in the care of the Australian high commission". Prof. Good described how he was taken from the court:
"I was literally grabbed from the court by security people and driven across the countryside at high speed to shake off the diplomats, journalists and my lawyers," he said.
He was placed in a prison for two hours, after which he was taken to his house in Gaborone and given 30 minutes to pack before being put on a flight to South Africa. He said that he may appeal against the ruling.
Thursday 2 June 2005. It is reported that Prof. Good intends to appeal.
The Botswana Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has expressed deep concern at the deportation, questioning whether the "secretive and unlimited powers" in the Immigration Act are consistent with the Vision 2016 Ideal of an "Open, Accountable and Transparent Nation". It also expressed concern at the possible "chilling effect on academic and scholarly independence". The South African Chapter of MISA has also expressed grave concern. (Source: AllAfrica.com)
An editorial in the South African business paper Business Day states that the expulsion of Prof. Good will undermine Botswana's reputation as an example for African democracy.
At the University of Botswana, the Administration has not as yet made any significant statement on the recent events. On Wednesday 1 June the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bojosi Otlhogile, issued an email circular to the University community briefly reporting the outcome of the case and stating that the University was in touch with Prof. Good's lawyers. Today, the University's Director of Public Affairs, Mr Samuel Moribame, stated that he was not in a position to make an informed comment at present, but that the University authorities had met yesterday (1 June) to discuss the matter.
Thursday 16 June 2005. Conflicting reports in the Botswana Daily News first indicate that the government's reasons for declaring Prof. Good a prohibited immigrant were connected to claimed links between Prof. Good and the activist organization Survival International, and then reverse this suggestion. On 13 June the Daily News reported that "President Festus Mogae says Prof. Kenneth Good was deported because he teamed up with Survival International (SI) to sabotage the diamond-for-development campaign." However, according to Mmegi, the following day a correction appeared in the Daily News stating that "the reasons for Good's deportation were not raised or divulged during the president's press conference."
Meanwhile, it was reported by Mmegi that the University of Botswana authorities were in some difficulty as to the legal position regarding Prof. Good's contractual benefits. Neither the employer nor the employee had terminated his service, which created a situation unforseen in the contract.
Tuesday 5 July 2005. It is reported by the Botswana Daily News that Prof. Good is lodging an appeal with the Court of Appeal. According to the report, the appeal both challenges the specific deportation order on grounds of irrationality and questions the constitutionality of certain parts of the Immigration Act.
Wednesday 13 July 2005. The Court of Appeal has been hearing the case this week. As well as the main parties to the case, the Botswana human rights organization Ditshwanelo was represented as amicus curiae. It is reported by the Daily News today that the lawyers have now finished their submissions.
Wednesday 27 July 2005. Botswana Television reports this evening that the Court of Appeal has dismissed Prof. Good's appeal, holding that the President acted within his powers. This appears to be the end of the case in terms of the Botswana legal system.
The United States State Department referred to the Ken Good case in its annual human rights report for Botswana for 2005, issued 8 March 2006 (see http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61555.htm) The American Government report states:
'There were no government restrictions on the Internet; however, the government restricted academic freedom during the year. On May 31, the government deported Dr. Kenneth Good, a professor at the University of Botswana, who had written papers critical of the government. The government attributed its actions to national security concerns. In a June 11 press conference, President Mogae highlighted Dr. Good's support for Survival International's public campaign to depict the country's diamonds as "conflict diamonds" because of the government's relocation of San and other minorities from the CKGR....'
Last updated 27 July 2005