05 Jun 2022

The law must recognise urban customary courts. It should not stop there, but should also clearly define the role of customary court presidents within the constitutional framework. Equally important, court presidents should be part of Ntlo ya Dikgosi to represent the interests of city and town dwellers.

Sowa Town Court President, Mr Reuben Majeremane said this when welcoming the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana last Friday in Sowa.

“Ha go sekwasekwa molao-motheo re tshwanetse ra lemoga gore metse setoropo e setse e fetogile metse ya batho bangwe ba ba sa tlholeng ba na le metse gope e ba ka e supang ele kwa ga bone.

 Se se raya gore makgotla a a mo toropong a emetse batho ba fela jaaka makgotla a a ko magaeng,” he said meaning many city dwellers considered towns their home villages and looked to urban court presidents as their dikgosi, hence the need to have court presidents sitting in Ntlo ya Dikgosi.

Commenting, one of the residents, Mr Cedric Lepodise berated the police for ill-treating suspects in their custody, saying doing so violated personal liberties that the supreme law of the land had granted to the citizens.

He made particular reference to Section 10 subsection 2 (a) of the constitution which reads, “Every person who is charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty.”

Mr Lepodise said it was incumbent upon the constitution to protect the rights of suspects and make sure holding cells were fit for human occupation.

 Mr Gosata Mosweu denounced the appointment of ministers from among Members of Parliament arguing the practice had seriously dented the integrity of the oversight role that both the executive and legislature were supposed to play over each other. Mr Mosweu also proposed that special nomination of councillors and Members of Parliament must cease, as now elected members had the skills previously lacking and necessitating the practice. “Amongst the three-tier land tenure system that we have in Botswana; namely Tribal land, Freehold land, and State Land I submit that we do away with tribal land,” he said.

Mr Pius Phumaphi proposed the following; removal of presidential immunity conferred upon a sitting president; upholding of the death penalty; selecting ministers from outside parliament and empowering dikgosi by giving them sole responsibility to preside over stock- theft cases. He also said the time had come to split the central district to facilitate development.

“Central district e tona thata nna keletso yame ene ele gore e dirwe into five districts, re nne le Boteti, Bobirwa, Tswapong, North District le Central,” he said.

 Another resident, Mr Tsholofelo Bashayi proposed the constitution should prescribe that murder cases must be tried within one year.

 He further suggested that dikgosi should be taken through the basics of the law.

His take on some of the sentences given to people who committed minor crimes such as common assault, petty theft, and others was that offenders should be sentenced to extramural duties as opposed to jail terms.

 Doing so would save the taxpayers money. Mr Pindisani Bakhauli suggested that the person appointed to the position of the deputy speaker of the national assembly should not be a politician. He opined that a deputy speaker who was selected from amongst parliamentarians was likely to be biased towards his or her party Another speaker, Mr Tebogo Kemhitlhetse, said the constitution should confer upon the Directorate of Public Service Management the sole responsibility to appoint ambassadors.  ENDS