BOTSWANA: KILLERS MUST HANG - CHIEF

Batlokwa deputy chief, Michael Gaborone, said that anyone who commits murder must hang. "Killers must hang. Whether it is a minister, an official or an ordinary man," he said. He asserted that even if he was to call Batlokwa to the main Kgotla this morning and raise the issue, they would all endorse it. "It is straightforward, killers must be killed, no compromise," he said. Gaborone was adamant that the rights of people who kill with intention are not more important than the rights of the people they have killed. "Everybody must know that the murdered were people who also deserved rights, whose parents wanted them to be alive, and who got the right to live from God," he stressed. He said that Botswana should maintain the death penalty to deter would-be killers. Meanwhile opposition parties, the Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Congress Party, still do not have a stand on the death penalty. Spokesperson for BCP Dumelang Saleshando said that they allow members to go with their conscience.