21 Nov 2018

Administration of Justice says the article published in the Mmegi of November 16, 2018 headlined “Chief Justice admits to failing systems” is misleading.

A press release from the Administration of Justice says chief justice in his address at the stakeholders conference did not admit to “failing systems”.

It says to the contrary, the chief justice was candid in acknowledging the existence of challenges in the justice sector ranging from backlog of cases, delays in transcription of proceedings and delivery of judgements,

The release further states that “Critically, the Hon Chief Justice noted the concerted efforts underway and at an advanced stage to tweak and complement the existing systems such as JCM and CRMS, which have served us fairly well this far, by supplementing them with Court Annexed Mediation and E-Filing respectively, including installing Real Time Court Reporting, to address public concerns and further improve and enhance service delivery.”

In addition, it says the chief justice expressed these sentiments in his address at the stakeholders conference for the judiciary and its key stakeholders, Attorney General’s Chambers, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Botswana Police Service, Botswana Prisons Service and Rehabilitation and The Law Society of Botswana, held under the theme: Towards the realization of a World Class Judiciary in Partnership with Stakeholders”.

According to the release, the conference introspected and reviewed the challenges affecting the entire justice sector and emerged with practical outcomes to achieve a first class judiciary with each stakeholder being accountable and responsible for its role in the value chain. ENDS