Isaiah Morewagae
10 November 2009
The case in which the Vice-President, Mompati Merafhe is being sued for adultery took another turn at the High Court in Lobatse yesterday when Acting Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo threatened to throw it out.
Justice Dibotelo's averments came after Merafhe's accuser, Prestona Stephen, failed to pay the costs of a previous court postponement requested by his attorney, Gabriel Kanjabanga.
The judge's anger was occasioned by yet another request for a postponement yesterday made by Collen Mudara, a lawyer from Kanjabanga and Associates, who said Kanjabanaga was away on a business trip and that he was under astrict instructions that Kanjabanaga was the only one to handle the matter.
"I have been given strict instructions that we make an application for postponement and the costs occasioned by this appearance will be (borne by) us," Mudara said. However, the Vice-President's attorney, Phazha Kgalemang of Kgalemang and Associates law firm in Francistown, opposed the application on the grounds that Stephen and his attorney could not be serious.
Kgalemang said his client was being prejudiced by the continued delays and postponements. "My client is too stressed due to this scandalous and defamatory suit," he said, adding that he was not convinced Stephen would be able to pay the costs of another postponement when he had failed to pay the costs of the earlier one.
"We cannot have costs piling on top of (one) another," Kgalemang argued before urging the court to allow him to motivate his application because Stephen's attorney did not seem interested in proceeding with the matter.
But inspite of his annoyance, Justice Dibotelo granted the postponement under strict orders. He set December 14 as the date on which Vice President Merafhe and his attorney will motivate why they feel Stephen's filed documents do not conform to procedure.
Justice Dibotelo also ordered Stephen to pay the costs of yesterday's appearance before the hearing of December 14, or the whole action will be dismissed.
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