Good lodges appeal from SA

Gaborone. The professor of political science who left Botswana after failing to convince the High Court that the country's president wrongly declared him a prohibited immigrant has lodged an appeal from across the border in South Africa.

Kenneth Good's lawyers in Botswana argue that the three High Court judges erred in their judgment in upholding the President Festus Mogae's constitutional right to throw him out of the country after he delivered a paper critical of the Government.

No formal comment has been issued by the University of Botswana on the deportation of Professor Good, who worked there for more than 15 years. The silence may be due to the fact that the next academic year does not begin until August.

A Botswanan lawyer said that legal reasons also made it difficult for the university to make a public statement. The university has been named a co-defendant in a libel case against Professor Good and any statements would be prejudicial.

Botswana's press has made strong statements in support of Professor Good.

There have been letters and articles expressing concern on both sides, but the majority have been in support of Professor Good and comment on the lack of transparency enshrined in the constitution.