Gideon Nkala
24 July 2007
The department of justice has taken the first step aimed at drastically reducing the backlog of cases and speeding up the delivery of justice, Chief Justice Julian Nganunu says.
Addressing a judicial case management seminar in Lobatse yesterday, Chief Justice Nganunu said:
" What we have begun and are continuing at this session, amongst others, is to change the philosophy and methods of doing things in our judiciary - from an institution where the rules rule, to one where service delivery and the interest of the litigants and the public become the centre-point of litigation, and the court rules become the method by which the courts achieve these aims.
"Judicial case management should, therefore, place justice and the completion of the case above purely technical rules, and place the judge as early as possible, to see to it that this is so."
According to the chief justice, the desire to introduce case management was motivated by the huge backlog of cases that had proved intractable and the realisation that other judiciaries that were once in the same position had since turned a corner.
Chief Justice Nganunu told Mmegi that his desire was that "case management should be up and running before the end of the year". He said once the system was in full swing, it would have a number of benefits for the public.
"It will remove cases from the control of the attorneys to the control of the judges and the attorneys. With this system, we will be able to cut out unnecessary delays and it would introduce other forms of mediation," he said, adding that the system is bound to reduce costs.
While he acknowledges that the system might place a burden on the judges, he said it was the way to go in order to improve service delivery.
For her part, UNDP Resident Representative, Kristan Shoultz, whose organisation is a co-sponsor of the initiative, said the UN agency has placed issues of public sector reform and effective service delivery high on its agenda.
" This project aims to reform the legal system by introducing case management and court annexed mediation, which are complimentary methods of alternative dispute-resolution."
The background for the reform is that currently the control and direction of civil cases, under the present civil rules, are entirely in the hands of litigating parties up to the stage that all pleadings are completed. Consequently, large volumes of civil cases, which do not flow to the finish line, clog the court system.
The case management system, which is a case flow control and monitoring system, is designed to empower judicial officers to take charge, and to control the pace of civil cases. In this case, a judge may decide to channel some cases to a court-connected mediation system, thereby promoting the speedy resolution of cases without the need to proceed for trial.
According to Chief Justice Nganunu, case management training would from the judges be carried on to induct magistrates, registrars and attorneys.
US Ambassador to Botswana Katherine Canavan, whose embassy has partly sponsored the initiative, also addressed the seminar. Both the Us embassy, the UNDP and Botswana government have partnered in this initiative to bring experienced judges from the United States of America to spearhead the initiative. Judge Clifford Wallace and Judge David Campbell are facilitating the case management training.
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