08 Feb 2017

Chief Justice Mr Maruping Dibotelo says Botswana judiciary is one of the best performing judiciaries in the SADC region, if not the whole of Sub Saharan Africa in Judicial Case Management and case disposal because of the integrity of its judges and public trust. Giving an address at the 2017 Legal Year Opening on Tuesday at Gaborone High Court, Justice Dibotelo noted that Botswana has a vibrant judicial whose judges make decisions independent of the political, socio-economic or other factors that might be blowing.
He noted that as a matter of fact, judges and magistrates take a judicial Oath which commits them to “well and truly serve this republic and to do justice in accordance with the Constitution of Botswana as by law established, and in accordance with the law and usage of Botswana without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
The Chief Justice told attendants, among them Vice President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi and the Speaker of the National Assembly Ms Gladys Kokorwe, that reassuringly, the trend which they observe is that members of the society are empowered in terms of resources, education and their wisdom to resort to the courts and not seek self-help to correct whatever they consider as wrongs as happened elsewhere.
He therefore said the public rests its confidence in the judgements of the local courts, no matter who wins as they trust the court’s stabilising influence in society, as the custodians and implementers of the law and adjudicating over their matters competently and impartially.
The Chief Justice noted that ‘even in instances where the judicial is short in manpower and resources, it does not take the goodwill for granted, as it strives to meet the public’s expectations.’ He said the key point to remember was that there was no problem in setting dates in the distant future as long as those dates were within the set timeframes for the disposal of cases.
Justice Dibotelo said the workload for the High Court for the period January to December 2016, reveals that 7 109 civil cases were registered, of which 8 479 were completed, including cases carried over from 2015, representing a disposal rate of 119.3 per cent.
During the same period, he said, 1 669 criminal cases were registered, of which 1 203 cases were completed, including cases brought over from 2015, representing a disposal rate of 72 per cent. He therefore commended judges as well as registrars who deal with default judgements, assessment of damages and taxations.
He said, “These statistics are a demonstration that the High Court, which is fully localised, is doing well.”
 He noted that this discredits the generalisations from an uninformed and arm chair stand point that the courts were dysfunctional. Furthermore, he noted that currently, there are only 22 corruption cases from 160 when this court was set in 2012.
“There is only one judge from the High Court dedicated to deal with these cases. The cusses of this court like other initiatives like the special Stock Theft and Traffic Courts, is largely dependent on the co-operation and coordination of all key stakeholders,” he added. In addition, he said, during the period January to December 2016, the magistrates courts registered 8 336 criminal cases and 18 176 civil cases, of which 5 717 criminal cases and 17 757 civil cases were completed respectively, representing a clearance rate of 68 per cent and 98 per cent respectively.
He therefore applauded the magistrates for the noticeable drastic improvement in the disposal of cases, particularly civil cases, with the full cooperation from the other players in the equation. Out of a complementary of 86 magistrates, only three magistrates are expatriates, he said. ENDS