29 Mar 2017

Member of Parliament for Lobatse, Advocate Sadique Kebonang has expressed support for the Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill stating that it will regularise anomalies which exist in the current Court of Appeal Act.
The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi tabled the Bill last week explaining that its objective was to comply with the High Court judgment that rendered appointments of Justices of the Court of Appeal unconstitutional.
The judgment in February 2017 followed a case by the National Amalgamated Local Central Government and Parastatal Workers Union which challenged the constitutionality of re-appointing Justices of Appeal after their three year contract terms expired.
Advocate Kebonang explained that Parliament has the responsibility to amend laws which are found to be in conflict with the Constitution.
Therefore, he explained that the minister was doing the right thing by seeking to amend the Court of Appeal Act. His remarks came after several members of the opposition bench criticised the Bill.
"Any law that does not comply with the Constitution must be amended to reflect the Constitution. I therefore support this Bill on the basis that it is intended to regularise the irregularities identified by the High Court ruling concerning appointments of the Court of Appeal judges,” Advocate Kebonang said.
He also said claims by members of the opposition bench that the minister was amending the Act in order to retrospectively legitimise unconstitutional appointments of Court of Appeal Judges lacked merit.
However, MP for Gaborone Central, Dr Phenyo Butale opposed the Bill, questioning why the ceiling for age of judges of the Court of Appeal should be increased from 70 to 80 as clause three of the Bill proposed.
Dr Butale accused the minister of amending the ages to create space for some judges who are favoured by government.
He also criticised clause four which sought to validate previous appointment of Justices of the Court of Appeal even though their appointments were not prescribed by Parliament at the time.
Dr Butale accused the minister of using Parliament to try to circumvent the ruling of the High Court.
Dr Butale said legislators advised Mr Kgathi at their general assembly that the Bill would not take this country anywhere but the minister was seemingly averse to their advice.
“We spoke very clearly about the kind of Bill you should be bringing before Parliament but you continued to bring things to Parliament which are not legal," Dr Butale said.
He said the minister should instead be seeking to transform the Court of Appeal by localising the justice bench and prescribing for female judges to be part of the bench.
Gaborone North MP, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa said the amendments were being made to satisfy certain individuals instead of on the best interests of the country.
He said it would be for the good of the country if the minister listened to advice from different stakeholders about the amendments he was proposing.
"I believe that we should have engaged private attorneys and legal practitioners on clauses in this bill before presenting it to Parliament. I don't believe we should have rushed this bill," he said.
He also questioned why the age of Court of Appeal judges was being increased while there are many young judges in the country who qualify to sit in the Court of Appeal.
MP for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana also claimed that the age of Court of Appeal judges was being increased to favour certain judges which are wanted by government.
He said it was time for the Court of Appeal bench to be localised with native Batswana who he said have the best interest of the country at heart.
He also said judges of the Court of Appeal should not be allowed to hold dual citizenship.  ENDS