- acknowledges drop in public trust and confidence in the judiciary
The newly-appointed Chief Justice, Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe has this week shared a road map aimed at addressing some of the challenges faced by his department, including a discernible drop in public trust and confidence in the judiciary by members of the public.
Speaking at the Opening of the Legal Year in Gaborone on Tuesday, Ketlogetswe noted that such challenges related to shortage of resources, human, financial and material have beset their efforts to render quality service delivery to the people.
Among the challenges, he highlighted the shortage of court reporters which he said has impacted negatively on their timely production of records of trial proceedings for purposes of appeal. The failing Computerized Records Management System (CRMS), he added has also resulted in delays when registering cases, and generally providing quality court services.
“We have also experienced challenges in relation to court buildings which have not been properly maintained. These includes Judges’ houses some of which are, as we speak, inhabitable. The result has been that litigants have been forced to attend courts with extremely hot temperatures due to non-working air conditioning facilities.”
He added that the Master’s office has also continued to experience poor service delivery due to extreme shortages in manpower and limited facilities in places far away from the main centres of Gaborone and Francistown.
“In relation to the magistrates’ courts, there has been a big challenge in some parts of Botswana where such facilities are not readily available within a reasonable distance. The workload is extremely huge, and the numbers of magistrates not commensurate with the caseload. The problem is further exacerbated by the categorization of magistrates into different grades, some with very limited jurisdiction.”
He announced plans on engaging government with a view to reconfigure the grades of magistrates to align them with a more modernized structure that recognizes judicial growth and empowerment and expeditious service delivery.
The Chief Justice has also acknowledged concerns raised by LSB about delayed delivery of judgments by some judges admitting that some of them have not been complying with the service standards set out in their rules of court pertaining to timely delivery of judgments.
“With this acknowledgement on our part, we have resolved as judges, particularly those in default, that every judge with delayed judgments as of today must have delivered such judgment or judgments by the end of March this year. This undertaking will be enforced with ruthless tenacity and no excuses will be entertained.”
Congested court diaries as raised by Attorney General has been blamed mainly on the limited number of judicial officers. Ketlogetswe noted that the growth in the number of cases coming through the courts has not been matched by a corresponding growth in the number of judicial officers.
To address the delay in the production of records of proceedings for purposes of appeals, the chief justice has announced plans among others to explore the possibility of recalling court reporters who have since retired and re-engage them on longer contracts to help augment the scarcely available cadre of court reporters.
Ketlogetswe also highlighted the need to increase the number of judicial officers at all levels to address case backlog in all their courts which he acknowledged has reached unprecedented levels.
“In relation to the workload in the Court of Appeal, we will be approaching government through the Minister of Justice, to plead for resources to increase the compliment of Justices of the Court of Appeal.”
In order to alleviate the backlog of cases in the High Court, the chief justice has also announced plan to operationalize Court Annexed Mediation, a process that helps parties resolve disputes before going to court.
The judiciary also wishes to establish a High Courts in Palapye, and the Ghanzi/Kgalagadi area to expand their services. The office is also desirous of establishing magistrates’ courts Tutume, Tswapong and some parts of Kgalagadi.
