16 Mar 2017

Shortage of Court Bailiffs is a countrywide challenge, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso told Parliament recently.

Ms Tshireletso said the shortage of court bailiffs was not peculiar to Block 8 customary court but rather it resulted on account of the freeze on manpower increase.

The minister said apart from the support offered by Botswana Police and District Bailiffs were occasionally clustered as project teams to provide support and relief in identified areas that experience backlog.

She said in order to deal with the challenge the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development will rationalize vacancies as and when they arise to create the same adding that deployment will be prioritised.

She disclosed that Block 8 Customary Court does not have a permanent office cleaner and this shall pertain until the outsourcing process was over.

On average, she said, Block 8 Customary Court has attended 341 matters annually from 2012 to 2016 thus the court will continue to operate with one Bailiff who will get support from the District Cluster when the need arises until additional positions have been secured.

The assistant minister was responding to a question posed by Gaborone North Member of Parliament Haskins Nkaigwa who wanted to know what was being done to address shortage of Court Bailiffs at Block 8 Customary Court.  

Gaborone North legislator wanted to know if the minister was aware that the court was currently operating without a cleaner and what was being done to rescue the situation.

Further he wanted to know how many cases were attended by the court on average yearly since 2012 and how the court was expected to operate efficiently with only one court bailiff. ENDS