17 Mar 2024

The Ministry of Justice through Legal Aid Botswana (LAB), is dedicated to enhancing access to justice for individuals who cannot afford paying for legal representation.

Minister of Justice Mr Machana Shamukuni said this when presenting his ministry budget proposals for the 2024/25 financial year. The budget, amounting to P146,2m in recurrent estimates and P40m in development estimates was approved by Parliament on Thursday.

Mr Shamukuni said LAB aimed to establish service centres within a 150 km radius across the country to make its services more accessible to the public.

He said plans were at an advanced stage to establish such centres in Ghanzi and Letlhakane.

“While the Ghanzi project experienced delays due to land allocation, resolution has been achieved, and the project is now poised for execution. The Letlhakane project awaits land allocation after an application submitted in April 2023,” he said.

Mr Shamukuni added that LAB would improve service delivery by relocating offices in Francistown, Maun, and Kasane to more spacious and accessible premises. 

He further said LAB would upgrade its ICT infrastructure and digitalization.

 The minister said P119.8m from the recurrent budget would be allocated to headquarters for salaries, and payment of subvention to LAB, as well as ministry’s office accommodation.

He added that the Department of Refugee Management & Anti Human Trafficking would be allocated P26.3m mainly to cover welfare and repatriation of refugees to their countries of origin, refugee protection and core relief items, food for asylum seekers and cost associated with refugee status determination.

He said the development budget would be allocated to essential infrastructure projects such as the Palapye Land Tribunal, development of Legal Aid Offices and Office of the Receiver, as well as key ICT upgrades.

Mr Shamukuni further said the ministry was committed to transforming the justice system by making it more inclusive.

To that effect, he said the ministry was pursuing a strategic programme aimed at strengthening the legal framework, to improve access to justice and enhance the effectiveness of the justice delivery system in Botswana.

Some of the measures taken to transform the justice system, the minister said, included the successful completion of Guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming within the Criminal Justice System.

He said the guidelines were in the early stages of implementation and would start with training the implementing entities.

Mr Shamukuni further said the ministry, in collaboration with Stepping Stones, had undertaken a research study project titled  Assessing the state of the child-friendly justice in Botswana: Qualitative situational analysis for reform.

“This study aims to evaluate the friendliness of the justice system towards children in conflict with the law and those seeking justice. The study and subsequent implementation of the recommendations, demonstrates government commitment to reforming the juvenile justice system to align with the Children’s Act and international treaties, ensuring the protection and upholding of children's rights,” he said.

The minister said another project in collaboration with UNDP was the review of the Criminal Justice System, where a local consultant was engaged to analyse the current state of the criminal justice system, provide reform recommendations, and establish a transformation roadmap.

He said the underlying objective of the review of the criminal justice system was to remove the bottlenecks and impediments to fair, accessible, affordable and timely justice and to ensure that the justice sector supports democratic governance and the rule of law.

Mr Shamukuni further said the ministry had commenced the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2021 to enhance penalties for offences against morality including rape and defilement, among other things.

He said another successful milestone was the completion of the Anti-Human Trafficking National Plan (2023-2028) whose implementation had started. ENDS