04 Feb 2015

Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo says as at the end of December 2014, 21 corruption cases had been registered before the newly established special corruption court based in Lobatse. 

Speaking at the official opening of the legal year in Gaborone on February 3, Justice Dibotelo said two cases had been completed whilst the remaining were at different stages of case management.

These cases were segregated and dedicated one High Court judge for two years to exclusively deal with them to ensure they were expeditiously concluded, he said.

Justice Dibotelo said January 2015 marked the second anniversary of the existence of this court after a decision was taken in October 2012 with a view to respond and address the viral growth of economic and corruption cases before the courts. 

He, however, said at the conclusion of his two years attachment at this court, Justice Tshepo Motswagole shared in his handing over report some of the unimpressive performance observations of this court, which included among others; the unending postponements by the prosecution; acute shortage of prosecutors to exclusively prosecute these case types and unexplained absenteeism by the prosecution on dates set for Roll Call.

Others, the chief Justice said, were lack of case information sharing amongst prosecutors for ease of updating the court in the absence of the key prosecutor seized with the case; deliberate decision by the court not to strike these cases off the roll or dismiss them for want of prosecution, but to postpone them with the view to accommodate and indulge the prosecution.

Another point he raised was that effective, intricate and tough defenses often put forward in these case types resulting in very few if not close to none admission of statements which would ordinarily shorten their duration before the court.

Notwithstanding the marginal performance of this court, Justice Dibotelo said the unique nature of its business continues to make it relevant and a very critical court to maintain in the justice system as corruption related practices have not gone away.

He however assured the nation of the justice department’s commitment in supporting government’s position for “zero tolerance on corruption”.
 Justice Dibotelo implored partners in in the Criminal Justice System to render the necessary support for the expeditious prosecution and resolution of these matters.

He observed that one too many technical acquittals not based on merit, but due to inordinate delays, lost and inadequate evidence or even deficient prosecution could escalate loss of investor and public confidence on the system’s capacity to address corruption in this country.

Meanwhile Justice Dibotelo said there were now seven fully operational Stock Theft Courts around the country which he said were all managed by senior and well experienced magistrates and their performance in terms of case disposal vary from exceptional to marginal depending on other variables such as the workload in a given area.

 According to Justice Dibotelo, the courts have been successful in observing and operating within the agreed turnaround times. Justice Dibotelo however thanked President Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama for ensuring that these courts were adequately resourced to meet demand.

With regard to special traffic courts, he said all 10 magistrates’ posts for special traffic court and their support staff had been filled and started hearing traffic cases in all designated magisterial areas.

He said the court was one of the busiest courts, with 3942 traffic related cases registered before it for the period January to December 2014 alone.

Most of the common traffic matters brought before this court, he said, are driving without due care and attention; driving whilst unfit to drive; driving at an excessive speed and dangerous driving. 

The process for the procurement of special buses for use by the special traffic courts is ongoing and manufacturing of four of the approved special buses will be starting soon in South Africa, he said.

The Chief Justice noted that the acquisition of special buses for use by the special traffic courts remains top on the administration of justice priorities in promoting access to justice for the wider population, especially those in remote areas to whom accessing most of their services remained a challenge as well as to augment services already provided to more established centres.

The theme for this year’s Legal Opening is “Institutional Independence: a cornerstone for an efficient and independent judiciary”.  ENDS