14 Mar 2016

Chief Justice, Mr Maruping Dibotelo says he is happy over the improvement in the performance of the usage of Court Records Management System (CRMS) users at the Gaborone High Court.

Speaking during a reception he hosted for the CRMS user team at the Gaborone High Court premises on Friday March 11, justice Dibotelo said for some time Gaborone High Court was scoring low marks in terms of the usage of the system despite the fact that it is the headquarters, where the judicial leadership is based.

He told the elated team that during those '”difficult and trying times”, it was difficult for him to chastise other stations on their poor performance whereas the headquarters under his nose was not leading by example.

In an endevour to remedy the situation, Justice Dibotelo communicated his concerns to the judges, registrars and the rest to of the team to appreciate their problem with a view of addressing them. 

In the same manner, he also approached all stations after realising that it was unfair to club together performing and non-performing courts and blame them all for poor CRMS usage.

He however, said this intervention has paid dividend as there has been an upward trend in the performance of Gaborone High Court station from position 17 at 55.1 per cent in September 2013, to position 10 at 74.1 per cent in September 2014, to position 5 at 81.5 per cent in March 2015 and in September 2015 to position 4 at 87.3 per cent.

He said the trend is therefore highly commendable given that presently there are 25 stations.

In the last gauging in September 2015, Hukuntsi was number one at 96.2 per cent, Kasane number two at 93.7 per cent, and Letlhakane number three at 86.8 per cent. 

Maun, which used to excel and still does was at number five at 86.3 per cent. 

The station with the lowest score was at 50 per cent.     

Justice Dibotelo in the meantime said he wants all the court teams under the leadership of judges and magistrates to use the system effectively so that all the events are closed and all pleadings are scanned, noting that he wants all staff members to be all rounded so that in the absence of a particular officer work does not have to suffer.

Of particular note, Justice Dibotelo said their automated information should be up to date and accurate as they intend to pilot e-filing in one of the courts, since CRMS has been upgraded to cater for this application.

In her vote of thanks, the deputy registrar (legal), Ms Anna Mphetlhe said it was inspiring that though they were not holding position one, the Chief Justice saw the need to congratulate them in the form of hosting a reception for them. 

She said the initiative will motivate them and therefore aim to reach the sky in whatever they do. ENDS