11 Oct 2018

The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and stakeholders mandated with discharging legal services have made a commitment to deliver on their mandate, despite  challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.

Officially opening a DPP stakeholder pitso in Gaborone on Tuesday, the Attorney General, Advocate Abraham Keetshabe, said while resource constraints continued to cause a major dent on the Attorney General’s Chambers’ efforts to deliver, they would work tirelessly to ensure that the litigation conveyor belt continued to run.

He said despite the challenges, it remained critical that cases not only came to the courts but also left.

“In our quest to ensure that justice is not only heard but that it is also seen, we have to maintain the momentum of moving the litigation conveyor belt,” he said.

Adv. Keetshabe said in spite of all the hiccups, stakeholders in the justice system remained determined to harness the collective energy and synergy of all the stakeholders to ensure that justice was qualitatively delivered to the nation; the key result of which would be the enjoyment of individual rights and liberties.

Stating that the AG’s Chambers had during the 2016/17 financial year developed a six-year strategic plan aligned to NDP 11 and Vision 2036, Adv. Keetshabe underscored the crucial nature of the department’s role, which he indicated was to be an enabler to the attainment and realisation of governance, safety and security in Botswana.

He thus implored stakeholders to each pull their weight in making the delivery of justice a reality.

“I would like to urge all institutions in the justice system to stand up to the task of maintenance of law and order. Admittedly, this is by no means easy. Accordingly, I call upon each and every one of you to soldier on, especially those in the prosecution pipeline so as to create a crime-free society,” he stated.

Outlining the objectives of the Pitso, Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) director, Mr Stephen Tiroyakgosi, said the DPP played a pivotal role with other crime-fighting agencies to insulate the nation from crime and danger.

Mr Tiroyakgosi said the Pitso provided a golden opportunity for stakeholders to share successes and challenges, and was a crucial platform for them to devise strategies of addressing the identified challenges.

Highlighting some of the challenges that the prosecutions body was currently grappling with, the DPP’s head cited among others the changing profile of crime, which he said had come about as a result of the advent of complex crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking and cybercrime.

Addressing the meeting on the state of the DPP, one of its deputy directors Mr Kabo Leinaeng observed that while at inception the agency had the grand plan of taking over prosecutorial duties from Botswana Police Service (BPS) that had, due to several reasons been unattainable.

Mr Leinaeng said one the major problems that had hampered efforts to realise the noble dream had been the limitations in terms of the number of prosecutors in the DPP’s employ at any given time in the past.

He said presently, there were 73 prosecutors in Gaborone responsible for over 4 000 cases; while in Francistown the department had 32 officers against over 1 200 cases.

He said Maun had 15 prosecutors responsible for over 700 cases whereas Palapye and Lobatse there were 23 and 17 officers, each office handling over 800 and over 500 cases respectively.

Pointing out that it was clear from the figures that the DPP was strained; the deputy director stated that internationally, the ideal case load per prosecutor currently stood at 50.

Despite this, Mr Leinaeng said it was pleasing that the office was doing relatively well with a success rate of 77 per cent of cases registered and won in court against a target of 90 per cent.

Regarding the turnaround rate of cases was also one area in which the office enjoyed resounding success as presently it stood at 15 months against a target of 18 months.

As for challenges, he said they continued to have a problem of inadequately investigated cases or cases with insufficient evidence being forwarded to them.

The absence of judicial officers on scheduled dates also posed a challenge, often resulting in cases stalling before the courts, he said.

The DPP, he noted, was also not entirely blameless as there continued to be instances in which prosecutors double-booked themselves or simply failed to show up in court. ENDs