07 Mar 2013

The Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security will continue to strengthen security in courts and judicial officers’ residences in the next financial year, Parliament heard Tuesday.

Presenting the Administration of Justice budget proposal for the 2013/14 financial year, Mr Dikgakgamatso Seretse said that was because security of judicial officers, particularly magistrates, had in the past left a lot to be desired.

Mr Seretse also indicated that incidences of attacks on magistrates were also becoming frequent. Consequently, the minister requested Parliament to approve over P62 million under the development budget for the Administration of Justice.

Out of the requested money, the minister indicated that P18 million would be used to fund the final account for the design and construction of the Gaborone division of the High Court and Court of Appeal.

The balance, he said would be used to fund construction of security walls, install alarm systems and security fences for house occupied by judicial officers, procure law books for magistrates, vehicles for judges as well as four converted buses used for mobile courts.

He further said the funds would also cover projects that had been approved such as Kanye Magistrate Court, extension to Broadhurst Magistrate Court, magistrates’ houses and staff houses for Maun Magistrate Court.

However, Mr Seretse said from the over P80 million that was allocated for the current financial year, over P42 million was spent on projects including design and construction of the Gaborone High Court and Court of Appeal including procurement of law books and furniture and equipment for the new courts, court  records management system.

He regretted that refurbishment of judge’s house in Francistown did not proceed as planned and authority had been given to use the allocation to procure a vehicle for the judge president of the Court of Appeal.

In other issues, the minister indicated that the support for service staff of the judiciary continue to be addressed and trained on the principles and etiquette of customer service, particularly in dealing with increasing numbers of customers at several service points which include the small claims courts and collection of maintenance funds.

On the public’s concerns and perceptions about bail for criminals, the minister explained that they have agreed to convene a meeting on March 22 in Palapye where they will endeavour to understand circumstances and factors leading to granting bail which he said remained the prerogative of the courts.

Also, the minister indicated that manpower needs of the judiciary continued to be given so as to enhance capacity for efficient customer service and speedy delivery of justice.

Again, he said a number of initiatives were being put in place in response to customer needs. Such, he said related in particular to disbursement of child maintenance funds to beneficiaries, which he said currently stood at P11 million uncollected monies.

As a result, he said the Administration of Justice in collaboration with his office and the Accountant General were exploring customer focused methodologies for disbursing such funds, including engaging the private sector such as Botswana Post and banks and the most efficient and cost effective system will be employed.

As part of the new reforms, the minister told Parliament that in its endeavour to further improve case disposal levels, the judiciary would, starting in April this year, pilot Court Annexed Mediation (CAM); a form of alternative dispute resolution.

That, he said, followed some benchmarking exercise in the United States of America by the judiciary.

To facilitate the reform, he said training would be done this month (March) over a period of six months and would include judicial officers, support staff and lawyers from both the public service and private practice.

“This will further complement the ongoing judicial case management,” he added.

In effort to localise the Court of Appeal bench, Parliament heard that two additional citizen justices have been appointed, bringing the number of citizen justices to four.

The increase, he said would enable the court to attend to matters brought to it immediately. “However, we will continue to use expatriate justices in the Court of Appeal sessions.”

Mr Seretse further told Parliament that in their endeavour to take justice to the people, they would establish four new courts in Shakawe, Nata, Kang and Bobonong, which he said will be operating in rented facilities.

The ministry will also establish mobile courts to cover other parts of the country and in turn complement traffic courts in operation in Gaborone and Francistown.

The mobile courts, he added would also be used to hear other matters such as maintenance and small claims.

Parliament also heard that a Bill to amend Section 60 of the Magistrate Court Act which will increase the penal power of all grades of magistrates was completed and will be presented to members in the July session.

The minister was happy to report progress on the set up of three more stock theft courts in Jwaneng, Palapye and Selebi-Phikwe.

He indicated that the courts were now operational and that brings the number of stock theft courts to seven in the country for which he said their performance was expected to further improve disposal rates of stock theft cases.

Meanwhile, Mr Seretse also requested Parliament to approve over P163 million for the Administration of Justice’s recurrent budget for the next financial year.ENDS