24 Sep 2017

Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo will complete his pending cases before leaving as head of the judiciary next year.

Speaking at the annual excellence awards for the Department of Administration of Justice on September 22, the Chief Justice explained that President Lt. General Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama had granted him time to finish his pending cases in terms of section 97 (1) of the Constitution.

The Constitution provides that the retirement age of judges, including the Chief Justice is 70 years.

“As you may be aware, next month I shall be turning 70, which is the retirement age of High Court judges, who include the Chief Justice, in terms of Section 97 (1) of the Constitution. Last month the Judiciary Service Commission, after taking into account the volume of cases before me, made the recommendation to the President in terms of the provision to Section 97(1) of the Constitution to permit me to continue in the office up to September 30, 2018 for the purpose of completing proceedings that were commenced before I reached the retirement age. The President has approved the recommendation and has extended my tenure of office up to and including April 30, 2018. I will in due course be bidding members of the judiciary farewell at appropriate occasions,” he added.

The Chief Justice explained that he had appointed Justice Michael Leburu, deputised by Justice Bashi Moesi to provide professional and technical input into the development of the Administration of Justice 2017 Strategic Plan.

He said the final document would be done once the committee had concluded its work by the end of October.

This year’s theme for the awards, 'Rewarding Service Excellence in the Judiciary,' according to Justice Dibotelo acknowledge the level of professionalism, passion and zeal by those in the judiciary to deliver excellence to the nation.

He said there was need for the judiciary to exude unwavering excellence to collectively commit to the performance of the organisation as a whole while remaining mindful of the objectives as contained in the personal performance and development plans and agreements.

Justice Dibotelo explained further that productivity in the workplace was vital as it brought success to any given institution.

“Performance is rooted in focus, dedication, enthusiasm and hard work,” he stated.

He said rewarding good performance was a good initiative that motivated employees to do even better in the future.

“In a nutshell, performance awards is one of the incentives bestowed on employee’s who are dedicated and committed towards their work.

Performance awards should inspire other employees to work harder and make more progress towards the attainment of their set goals,” he said.

Employees received awards and price money in categories that include best performers, employee of the year, outstanding stations and long service awards. ENDS