Suspended Judges want High Court Registrar to release transcripts
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Presiding High Court Judges Singh Lackvinda Walia, Zibani Makhwade and Leatile Dambe have reserved judgement in a matter in which the four suspended Judges, likewise of the High Court, Justices Key Dingake, Modiri Letsididi, Mercy Garekwe and Ranier Busang want the Registrar to furnish them with court transcripts.
The applicants in the matter are the four suspended judges while the 1st respondent is Registrar of the High Court, and President Dr. Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama is being cited as the 2nd respondent. The Judicial Service Commission is the 3rd respondent with Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo mentioned as the 4th while the Attorney General is the 5threspondent.
The judges say they want proper and accurate records of the court proceedings with regard to their matter of 4th February 2016, 31st March 2016, 28th April 2016, and 19th May 2016 to enable them to prosecute another application currently before court for recusal.
In the recusal matter, they want Justices Walia, Dambe and Makhwade to recuse themselves as they believe they have demonstrated biasness towards them in the main application for the review of the decisions taken by the Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo, the JSC and President Khama.
According to the suspended judges’heads of argument, failure to provide them with the said proper and accurate record would be prejudicial to the applicants and would deny them the right to a fair hearing.
“Absence of such transcript impeach our ability to argue our case,” they insisted during their submissions in court on Thursday. They added that they vehemently trust that the case is urgent as they believe the transcript is essential to enable them to argue their case and present facts including arguing their matter properly before the court.
According to the suspended judges, they require the transcripts in order to be able to properly and effectively, backed by sufficient evidence, deal with their recusal application. “The recusal application is set down for Thursday 22nd September 2016 and the transcript contains the evidence that the suspended judges intended to use in the said matter. If the Registrar had furnished the quartet with a proper transcript on the 1st September 2016 or even by 15th September 2016 then the applicants would not have needed to move the court on urgency.”
The suspended judges maintained that they could not be afforded redress at a later date for the reason being that they intend to use the contents of the transcript as evidence in the recusal application which was set to be heard on Thursday this week, 22nd September 2016.
“The record of proceedings contain the utterances and questions and exchanges between the Honourable judges and applicants attorneys that have resulted in the applicants having a reasonable apprehension of bias against them,” they said.
The quartet emphasised that: “without the transcript of the record of proceedings (and an accurate one at that; which captures all that took place during the proceedings) being made available for use at the recusal application hearing, the applicants will be effectively denied the right to a fair hearing.”
Moreover, they insist that without the record of proceedings they will be denied an opportunity to put their case properly before the court and fully ventilate the same which is inherent in the right to a fair trial. The four-some stated in their heads of argument that they will therefore suffer irreparable harm in that the recusal application will then proceed without the necessary evidence to back up their averment of bias on the part of the Honourable judges based on the court interactions.
As such the judges ‘on thin ice’ highlighted that the application has to be heard first and an order granted compelling the Registrar to provide a proper and accurate transcript before the recusal application can be properly ventilated.
In their response to the application, the Advocate representing government stated that the process whereby the suspended judges are seeking for the court transcripts is a clear abuse of the legal process. He said there is no dispute at hand on the matter requiring a transcript and that “there is no need for a record to substantiate what they want the court to do.”
The government lawyers further contended in court that they are not convinced by the applicants’ arguments and believe that the quartet is just “applying delaying tactics” to the main application in which they are querying their suspension.
The judgement was thereafter deferred to 13th October 2016 where the presiding trio will make a ruling on whether or not the matter is urgent and, whether or not the suspended judges are entitled to be given the said court recordings.
The suspended Judges were represented by Patience Pepsi Thuto (who presented the arguments) and Bonolo Selelo from Chibanda Makgalemele and Company.
Standing in for the AG was Advocate Anuar Albertus (arguing in court floor) and Awald De Villers Jansen from South Africa who were accompanied by Pulane Kgoadi and Yarona Sharp also from the Attorney General’s offices.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.
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BDP MPs demand review of Ministers performance
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) backbenchers were left frustrated when State Minister Kabo Morwaeng failed to furnish them with reports from various ministries at a party retreat held last month.
The two-day retreat of BDP MPs at Notwane Farms was held to discuss the implementation and progress of government projects in line with the party’s 2019 general elections manifesto, in order to assert themselves and press the President to take action against ineffective members of his cabinet. They believed that the laxity of these members could cost them the elections next year.
To accomplish this, the party had requested that each ministry submit their reports to the State Ministry, as it was the most senior ministry. These reports were expected to be assessed at the retreat to evaluate service delivery and the implementation of the party manifesto.
The ministries submitted their performance reports to the Ministry as agreed, but Masisi and the MPs did not have the opportunity to review them. This was the main agenda of the retreat, but when it commenced, and many were anticipating the reports, they were nowhere to be found.
“Minister Morwaeng told us (MPs) that he forgot to prepare them, and as a result, there was nothing to discuss. He said he would share those reports in our WhatsApp group. To us, that was an insult because it is a very serious matter, and we needed to discuss it and see which ministry is failing and how it can be assisted to ensure that service delivery is met,” revealed one MP to WeekendPost.
Reliable sources have informed this publication that one of the reasons why the reports were not shared is due to the poor performance of the State Ministry. It is said that the Minister decided not to share the reports because it would portray him as incompetent, especially since President Masisi was present and seeking suggestions from MPs.
It is understood that the Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs, as well as the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, performed well, while the Ministry of Health and the State Ministry performed poorly.
The MPs are primarily concerned about the lack of correlation between the ministries’ recurrent and development budgets.
“You would notice that in some cases, a ministry would spend their recurrent budget accordingly, but when you look at their development expenditure, it is at 15 percent. That’s the money that should ensure that people receive services and amenities, and we wanted to advise ministers to communicate with bureaucrats to address this,” added the MP.
Without the reports, and with the expected agenda now in tatters, it is said that President Masisi asked MPs to come up with suggestions on how to win public confidence to secure victory in the next elections. It was at this point that backbenchers asked President Mokgweetsi Masisi to crack the whip on ineffectual ministers who had failed to fulfill their mandates. MPs expressed their concerns to the President, particularly regarding the state of affairs at the hospitals.
“There is a serious shortage of medicines and personnel in our areas, especially in rural areas. We have been complaining about this situation for some time, but there seems to be no change,” one MP told WeekendPost.
“The state of our roads and infrastructure is in disrepair. What irks us the most is that we have been complaining about these things for some time, but there has been no change. We demand progress.”
The issue of poor delivery and the significant deficit in the ruling party’s election promises is so severe that President Masisi had his ministers sign performance agreements and annual performance plans. The President effectively read them the riot act, informing them that they would be fired if they continued to fall short in delivering on their mandates.
He told journalists at a press conference that he recently had a serious engagement with Minister of Health Minister Dr. Edwin Dikoloti and Assistant Minister of Health Sethomo Lelatisitswe regarding the deplorable state of affairs at public health facilities.
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