14 Jun 2017

Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have expressed concern on the high numbers of expatriate judges on the Court of Appeal (CoA) bench.

Speaking during the presentation by the Registrar and Master of the High Court Mr Michael Motlhabi before the committee on June 13, Selebi Phikwe West MP Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse said it was disheartening that 51 years after independence, expatriate judges still outnumbered locals on the CoA bench.

Mr Keorapetse also expressed concern that the court’s bench had also never had a woman judge.

Sharing similar sentiments, Specially Elected MP Ms Bogolo Kenewendo noted also that the absence of women judges on the CoA bench was a matter that needed to be looked into as a matter of urgency.

In response to the concerns, Mr Motlhabi stated that presently, only three of the eight CoA judges were Batswana, pointing out however that localisation of the bench, though desirable, would take long.

He said one of the steps that had been adopted to address the issue was that any expatriate judge on the bench be replaced with a citizen once they retired.

On another issue, Mr Motlhabi said retired judges were often given extensions of contract to allow them to dispose of matters before them.

He told the PAC that when a judge approached retirement age, a report detailing among others the cases before them was prepared, adding that it was the same report that served as one of the yardsticks that were used to determine the length of time the said judge could be given as extension of contract.

He said currently one retired judge was still dealing with cases that were before them before they reached retirement age.

Mr Motlhabi was responding to MP Keorapetse’s question on whether there were any retired judges who were still disposing of cases before them.

The MP had also wanted to know if a judge’s contract could be extended in anticipation that they would not have completed some of the cases before them upon reaching retirement age.

Addressing another matter, Mr Motlhabi said the Constitution empowered the President to both set up and dissolve a tribunal set up to investigate the conduct of a judge.

He said the President had acted within the confines of the law when dissolving the tribunal that he had set up to investigate the conduct of the 12 judges who had signed a petition against the chief justice.

He said the concerned judges’ subsequent withdrawal of the petition meant that the tribunal no longer had work to do, and that as such the President was within his powers to dissolve it.

Mr Keorapetse had also wanted to know if Section 97 (3) of the Constitution, which empowered the President to set up a tribunal to investigate the fitness of a sitting judge to continue holding office, also empowered him to dissolve the said tribunal. ENDS