Kopano Olesitse
30 October 2009
Francistown — The Customary Court of Appeal will hear and determine 55 stock theft cases in the next two weeks.
The President of the Court, Christopher Masunga said the cases involve 74 prisoners already convicted by the lower courts. "We will be listening to these appeals in Mahalapye, Serowe and Letlhakane because all these crimes were committed north of Dibete. Our aim is not to delay judgment on appeal cases but to finish with them within six months," he explained. He said all the 74 appellants are kept in different prisons around the country. They are serving five-year prison sentences except one prisoner who is serving seven years.
Masunga said that even though some people succeed in appeal cases, mostly they uphold the decisions taken from the lower courts. "The reason we uphold these judgments is that in most cases, the convicts pleaded guilty unequivocally. They also accepted the charges and facts levelled against them at the lower courts. The appellants can only be acquitted if the right procedure was not followed or if evidence was not satisfactory to convict them from lower courts," he explained.
Masunga said that in stock theft cases, the Customary Court of Appeal has a maximum jurisdiction of 10 years imprisonment. "In drugs and related substances, we have a maximum jurisdiction of eight years imprisonment while in matters that fall under the penal code such as theft, we have the jurisdiction of three years," he said. He explained that in customary law, civil matters are divided into the limited and unlimited jurisdiction.
"By limited jurisdiction, we mean matters that involve liquid debts or damages to one's property such as cars. We are entitled to impose the maximum fine of P4,000 in these cases. Unlimited jurisdiction refers to matters of customary nature such as bride price (bogadi), inheritance (boswa) as well as damages (tshenyo)," said Masunga.
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