10 Apr 2016

The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi has informed Parliament that contracts of most foreign magistrates employed in Botswana will be coming to an end during the course of 2016 and that it is expected that most of their positions will be filled by citizen magistrates.

Mr Kgathi said out of 87 magistrates countrywide, there were currently seven foreign magistrates made up of five principal magistrates and two senior magistrates.

He said all the seven foreign magistrates in the Administration of Justice were employed on 24 months contracts.

He further said it was not correct to say the Administration of Justice employed foreigners as magistrates because the last appointment of a foreign magistrate was in 2008.

The Member of Parliament for Francistown, Mr Buti Billy had asked the minister why the country continued to employ foreigners as magistrates when young Batswana graduates were unemployed. Ends