04 Feb 2014

The Administration of Justice (AoJ) has put in place measures to address concerns about the conduct of some deputy sheriffs.

Officially opening the 2014 Legal Year on February 4, Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo has said the AoJ would set up a unit that would coordinate the relationship between members of the public and deputy sheriffs to address the outcry over the latter's conduct.

“There is mounting concern that some deputy sheriffs are taking undue advantage of members of the public. Deputy sheriff’s tenure of office will now be regulated by a service contract and monies collected by deputy sheriffs will be kept in trust accounts to be audited by the Master and Registrar of the High Court,” said Justice Dibotelo.

He further explained that the regulation of auction sales would be closely supervised by the sherriff. He explained that in order to ensure that the monitoring and oversight mechanisms yield positive results, public education and sensitisation interventions would be vigorously pursued so that the public would be equipped with adequate knowledge regarding the role of deputy sheriffs.

“The AoJ will in due course approach government for resources to implement these measures,” said Justice Dibotelo. The Chief Justice also revealed that following a successful benchmarking study of alternate dispute resolution in the United States in 2012, the AoJ introduced a number of reforms, among them, the implementation of court annexed mediation to dispose cases expeditiously.

“Other reforms are the judicial case management system (JCM) and the legal aid project. The JCM has recorded a number of successes since its inception at the High Court and magistrate courts in 2008 and 2011,” said Justice Dibotelo.

The ceremony was attended by President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, cabinet ministers, members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi and representatives from the diplomatic missions. ENDS