13 Nov 2025

The Administration of Justice (AOJ) is currently looking into and assessing the restructuring of the Magistracy in Botswana, to do away with issues related to limited jurisdiction of magistrates. 

The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr Nelson Ramaotwana, said this in response to a question from the Member of Parliament for Maun East, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile. 

He assured that once the process was completed, it would help eliminate delays and backlog in the justice delivery system. He explained the ministry’s plan for the process, with government support, to be in place by the second quarter of the next financial year. 

Mr Ramaotwana said a full complement of four magistrates was needed to adequately deliver justice to the people in Maun. He also noted that Maun Magistrates Court should be operating with four magistrates, however, since 2017 it had been operating with three and two magistrates at different times. 

“We currently have 18 prosecutors in Maun,” said Mr Ramaotwana, adding that the court turn around times for criminal cases were 24 months and 18 months for civil cases.

However, he noted that because of manpower shortages, the times of disposal of cases had increased with a criminal case taking an average of 36 months and civil matters 24 months on average. 

He admitted that the staff shortages were not unique to Maun but across all courts in the country owing to the expansion and growth of the Administration of Justice without increase in resources both human and capital. 

Thus, he added, it was important to consider adequately increasing the staff complement of the Administration of Justice. 

Mr Kekgonegile wanted the minister to brief the Parliament on plans to deal with extreme staff shortage in his ministry especially at the Judicial Services and Directorate of Public Prosecutions, in particular: the number of magistrates and prosecutors in Maun versus adequate numbers needed to operate the two institutions in Maun, the trial turn around and case disposal period at Maun Magistrate Court. 

He also wanted specific plans and timelines in place to fill the posts to facilitate speedy disposal of cases. ENDS