Lekopanye Mooketsi
22 February 2008
Gaborone — The MP for Tonota South, Pono Moatlhodi says there are cases where the Directorate on Public Prosecutions (DPP) has withdrawn charges against certain individuals following orders from powerful people in the government administration. Contributing to the debate on the Appropriation Bill for the Ministry of Justice, Defence and Security, the outspoken legislator threatened to spill the beans.
He said he would even mention names. However, the Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Phandu Skelemani assured the MP that everything is done above board.
Moatlhodi also wondered why the DPP is still under the Attorney General's (AG's) Chambers. He said it was never said that the DPP would be a unit under the AG.
He also questioned why the DPP does not have its own budget. Moatlhodi said there are some law students who graduated in South Africa but their qualifications are not recognised in the country. Skelemani responded that the South African graduates are supposed to undergo a six months internship before they are admitted to the bar. The MP for Francistown West, Tshelang Masisi reiterated his concern that justice is too expensive for the poor in this country. He lamented that even if a hospital has admitted that it has conducted the wrong operation on a patient, that person would have to engage a lawyer to apply for compensation.
"If you engage a lawyer they would demand P8,000 up front. There is so much poverty in this country but the law is not catering for the poor," said Masisi. He said it is even worse if you want to sue the government. He added that the government would make you to starve you through litigation. The MP for Gaborone West North, Otsweletse Moupo expressed concern that DPP has to consult with the Attorney General on cases which are of national importance.
He said the law entitles DPP to be detached from AG's Chambers. But operationally, he said, DPP is still under the AG. Moupo would like to see a situation where the DPP is autonomous. The leader of the opposition decried lack of manpower at the DPP, noting that 60 percent of staff is fresh graduates. He said there is not enough manpower and experienced officers.
Moupo said government has never been able to retain experienced professionals. He said something needs to be done to retain staff, not only lawyers but other professionals with specialised skills. His sentiments were echoed by the MP for Letlhakeng East, Gilbert Nagafela who sounded a warning that if the government does not pay brilliant lawyers they will be poached by the private sector. "They will be left with Zimbabweans. I think government should improve their remuneration package," he pleaded.
Meanwhile, earlier on, presenting the Appropriation Bill for the Administration of Justice, Skelemani said the judiciary has been facing challenges relating to delivery on its constitutional mandate.
He said this has resulted in the public expressing unhappiness particularly at the pace of litigation generally and the rate of the disposal of cases in particular. But he said like any other organisation which listens to the concerns of its customers, the judiciary carried out introspection and agreed to change with a view to driving the organisation to greater productivity and higher performance.
He said the department has mapped out strategies to bring about efficiency in the delivery of services. "I am happy to announce that we are now at a point where implementation of these strategies started in earnest on 1 February, and the nation will see new procedures for handling cases," he said. Skelemani said the reforms would bring about major changes in the judiciary and place Botswana's judiciary amongst the best in the world in terms of performance and efficiency.
Amongst some of the envisaged reforms is a small claims court. Skelemani said small claims courts are planned to commence in two pilot sites as soon as Parliament passes the legislation. He said once the enabling legislation comes into effect, a huge number of cases, which currently fall within the jurisdiction of the magistrate courts will be hived off to leave them to tackle the most serious cases.
Skelemani said the Office of the Master is going through transformation and will be relocating to Gaborone to make it more accessible to the public. He said the relocation is also intended to improve the efficiency of the office. He added that some of the functions of the Master will be decentralised to the magistrates. Skelemani noted that the increase in litigation resulted in increases in appeals to the Court of Appeal. He said this increase in the workload has resulted in the court failing to complete its work, thus creating a back log.
To curb this problem, two more sessions are going to be introduced to make four sessions of the Court of Appeal in a year, announced Skelemani.
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