75. He contested the claim that when Mr Modise was deported to South Africa, the authorities there accepted him as a citizen. He pointed out that Mr Modise was first deported to South Africa from Botswana on 17th October 1978, pursuant to a directive issued on 16th October 1978 by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President of the Respondent State. Upon returning to Botswana four days later on 21st October 1978, he was arrested and charged with re-entering Botswana, while being a prohibited immigrant. 76. The question as to whether or not South Africa accepted Mr Modise as a national was directly addressed in the decision of Hayfron-Benjamin (Chief Justice) in the appeal of Mr Modise against his conviction in the case of John K. Modise v The State, decided by the High Court of the Republic of Botswana on 20th September 1979. The relevant part of the said decision reads: The acceptance warrant, Exhibit P2, was issued at the Kopfontein Border Post and was dated 18th December 1978, i.e. two months after the Immigration Officer says he handed the accused over to the South African authorities. Cross-examination of the witness (the Immigration Officer, testifying for the Prosecution) disclosed that he was mistaken as to which document the South African authorities had signed that day. He said: "the document P2, the acceptance warrant, is not the one which was signed by the Immigration Post in South Africa at the time I handed the accused to the border post…" The prosecution, therefore, closed its case without clearing up a matter, which apart from any other considerations, would be a factor in the assessment of the sentence to be imposed. If the South African authorities were only prepared to accept the appellant in December, the indications are that he was bundled out of the country before the necessary preparation for his acceptance had been completed and before the accused, who had been in the country (Botswana) from infancy had settled his affairs here. 77. From the above therefore, he claims that this decision, which is still uncontested, shows that the Government of Botswana has never shown and was unable to show that the South African authorities had accepted Mr Modise as a national of South Africa. On the contrary, he submits that South Africa did not accept Mr Modise, but that Mr Modise was then banished to the defunct South African Homeland of Bophuthatswana, whose (then) government by a letter to Mr Modise (Ref. No. 4/6/2/8/818/78), of 6th October 1986, wrote that: Modise does not appear in the population register of the Citizens of Bophuthatswana. The subject of citizenship is a matter between you (Mr Modise) and the Botswana government. To validate their point, in the same year, the then government of the defunct Homeland of Bophuthatswana deported Mr Modise back to Botswana. 78. Regarding the claim that there is no citizenship that can be offered or granted to Mr Modise, he averred that such is contradicted by the other claim in the letter to the Commission by Mr B. K. Sebele, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated 9th December 1998 that: Mr Modise registered as a citizen under special circumstances at the direction of the President of the Republic of Botswana, although he failed to indicate the date on which Mr Modise was so registered. He submits that it is impossible to reconcile the claim that the Complainant registered as a citizen under special circumstances at the direction of the President of Botswana with the claim by Mr B. K. Sebele in his letter aforesaid that "There is no citizenship that can be offered or granted to Mr Modise". He attested that Mr Modise had reported that sometimes in 1998, immigration officials in Lobatse, Botswana visited him and invited him to sign a document to facilitate the renewal of his residence permit in Botswana that had expired. When he tried to verify the document, he was warned that he risked immediate and prompt deportation unless he signed the document, whereupon he promptly signed. Although he is physically in Botswana, he has not received any documentation or indication on his current nationality status from the Respondent State.