The appointment of Justice Radijeng is an effort to corrupt a judge

Ido not welcome the appointment of Judge Godfrey Radijeng, to the chair of the DIS Tribunal. It is wrong. First things, first; I am involved in a matter before him regarding the institution to whose tribunal, he has been appointed. I therefore, I begin my comments by owning up to a potential conflict. Aware of this fact, I shall steer clear of case facts and law, as required by law and ethics. I will focus on principle. I wish to be clear, further, that I write as a constitutional subject, and not as a lawyer in the case. I record herein, my citizen gripe with the timing of his appointment, and what I perceive to be the motive behind it. The path of criticism is a public way.

The appointment of Judge Radijeng, is an effort on the part of a judicially embarrassed government, that has gone far out on a limb, and can’t safely make it back home, to manipulate a judge through the conferment of title and position in a vain attempt to induce, favourable judicial outcomes. Judge Radijeng’s appointment, happens at a time when he is presiding, over one of the most contentious cases involving the very entity whose tribunal he has been appointed to lead. The case has been running round in the Courts for over three years, and has far reaching implications on the political credibility of the current administration.

When case was openly registered in the High Court, and fell to adjudication by Judge Ketlogetswe, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the political hit squad of the present administration, squealed in open Court, why the case was not enrolled before Judge Radijeng. Feel free to check the record. Same even, at some point, reported me to Judge Ketlogetswe, for complaining that they were a politically weaponised institution, which they in fact are.

The DPP, has lost its soul and must find it, in the national interest. The present situation, is unacceptable, and that, must be said. If so saying is a crime, then I will bear my punishment with fortitude.

I write not to disparage the present administration, but to remind it of its constitutional, and manifesto obligations. I have nothing against President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s government. I have defended its positions before in various fora. In fact the main opposition’s hatred, of my person, is public knowledge. We are seeing a lot of effort, on the part of the current administration, to weaponise State institutions to achieve political ends.

No sooner had Judge Ketlogetswe ruled that government should restore to applicants what they were dispossessed of, in one of the cases did BURS go into wartime service, with a set of nonsensical demands on the very same litigants, in a bid to erase the judicial outcome.

The all-important institutions of the DCEC, DPP, and the BURS, have shamefully degraded themselves to political hitsquad status, and are doing hit jobs for the political administration.

I have consistently given one example, of how the DPP, an institution very dear to my heart, has been weaponised against the administration’s perceived enemies. Fancy this; when in January, 2018, the asset forfeiture case before Judge Radijeng, was argued, the DPP surprised the respondents with an affidavit by the former DIS Director General, Isaac Kgosi, as one of their key witnesses in the matter. Kgosi, and the DIS, were, according to the DPP, victims of fraud. It was partly, on account of that affidavit, that the DPP was successful in the restraining order application. Judge Radijeng is soon, to preside over the determination of the asset forfeiture application, that followed. As soon as power transferred to the present administration, Kgosi, the DPP star witness in the application, was discarded by the DPP and disparaged as a criminal on incomprehensible charges, which were rightly dismissed by the High Court as devoid of merit. The DPP, have not appealed the judgement by Judge Leburu; rightly so, because the charges were from the very word go, a load of tripe.

Back to the issue; it is shameful that the administration has launched a charm offensive on the Judge Radijeng. It is significant that this charm offensive comes at the time when he is about to hear arguments in a case affecting the DIS; a case supposedly of national importance. President Masisi and his government, came to power decrying alleged misrule by the former administration, of which they were a part. What we are seeing, is hypocrisy at shameful levels. I ask politicians, to leave the Judiciary alone. We don’t need political interference in the justice system. Please hands off.

I have never hidden my disdain, as a lawyer, to interference with investigative, prosecutorial and judicial discretion. That is, to me, sacred ground. The fact is that, government has suffered a bloody nose on so many cases of recent, and Judge Radijeng is being enticed to become a deployee of the system. It’s a shame. I have said it before and I say it again; politicians must leave the Judiciary alone. It is the last refuge of the citizenry against the State. In the words of the Prophet Joel; “Let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream”.

Please leave the Judiciary alone.

Jobsworth! This informal and uniquely British word hasn’t quite seeped into Botswana’s common parlance. The English folk-singer, Jeremy Taylor, popularised the word in his 1973 song entitled Jobsworth. Part of the lyrics go, “Jobsworth, it is more than my jobsworth, I don’t care rain or snow, whatever you want, the answer’s no. I can keep you waiting for hours in the queue, and if you don’t like it, you know what you can do.” If this doesn’t scream blithe indifference and stolid apathy, I wonder what does!

If you are discerning, you’d have picked that being a jobsworth is a curse, not a blessing. That jobsworths are proud, overzealous and pedantic employees.

Callous impiety is weaved into their professional fabric and they would happily throw reasonableness and humanity out of the window, following rules to the letter.

Being out of step with reality, they would gleefully take leave of their senses, simply because for them, there is no scope for a thumbnail’s wiggle room in the execution of their duties. They have a flawed pre-packaged version of what constitutes a quintessential employee.

In their small world, all rules are equally important and are cast in impenetrable reinforced concrete.

Their lethargic attitude towards work and their misplaced craving for flaunting their authority-free power drive them to elatedly fail to grasp the import and the spirit of the very rules they punctiliously and finically seek to enforce. Their iron-fisted demeanour trivialises observance of rules.

A few senior officers exhibit this attitude. However, generally, jobsworths tend to be lowly officers armed with massive power, which tends to weigh down unfavourably on their reasoning faculty.

Hence, words like leeway, discretion, negotiation, reasonableness, flexibility, common sense and pragmatism are alien to their limited vocabulary.

Rather than facilitate service, these crackbrained hotheads would blatantly obstruct such service and gleefully revel in ‘putting one in their place,’ because for them might makes right. Sadly, jobsworths detract from building a credible platform for teamwork and compromise corporate performance.

Self-awareness compels us to know our blind spots. Am I a jobsworth? What about my colleagues? You must have come across jobsworths. I would put my head on the block and dare you to chop it by presuming you hated every moment of it.

If your emotional intelligence is somewhat compromised, you may have fumed with frustration purely because of your inability to reason with a jobsworth. Your words probably bounced on their heart and head leaving you livid with disappointment, feeling powerless, defeated and disillusioned. Likely, you wished you could inject a powerful shot of an enduring sense of humanity into their seared consciences and dehumanised hearts.

An anecdote of my encounter with a jobsworth is in order. This caveat is in order though; jobsworths are not limited to a single profession. All professions have their fair share of jobsworths. Sir Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester’s Business School asserts, “You find people like this everywhere. They’re not usually decision-makers and they don’t have much authority. In being difficult they’re saying, I’m more important than you think I am.”

Three weeks ago, on a Saturday, I arrived at Extension 2 clinic armed with a prescription for my hypertensive brother. After spending 10 minutes queueing for COVID-19 registration, I pranced across to the pharmacy. By the time I arrived, it was 12:05pm.

The pharmacist was closing the door and about to lock it. Apparently, his terms of employment prescribe that the pharmacy must close at 12 noon.

Much as I know I’m no charmer, in my attempt to win his heart, I flashed my best smile and engaged the most congenial of my many voices.

Our conversation quickly got off the rails as my attempt to appeal to his humanity hit a brick wall.

For that day, my brother missed his dose of diuretics only because I failed to convince the jobsworth to think with his heart, to be more accommodating and to put humanity ahead of personal right.

Does this strike a chord with you? Has someone ever shut the door just as he saw you sprinting towards his office?

Jobsworths are uncooperative in team work. Have you ever been assigned to a project with a jobsworth? Did you pick unwillingness to sacrifice personal time? Reluctance to share knowledge? Foot-dragging and the disinclination to support team members? Oftentimes, jobsworths are quick to remind the team of their personal rights.

Can you relate to this? Who on earth doesn’t know that the gold standard for performance in corporate settings is effective teamwork?

What if your colleague is a jobsworth? Can you manage him? The jobsworth-spirit should not be tolerated.

It can impede progress, destroy employees’ camaraderie and turn a febrile atmosphere into a toxic environment. We can’t afford to walk on eggshells around jobsworths. Silence is complicity. If our colleague is a victim of this attitude, let’s help him by dealing head-on with the issue.

One way is by going the confrontational route, but in a loving way; pursuing a oneon-one intervention where we can relate how their conduct is frustrating our efforts at achieving important targets.

If they arrogantly choose to be unresponsive, the loving thing is to escalate the matter to their superior and demand their meaningful intervention.

May we all strive to uphold enduring fidelity to the ideals of common sense, reasonableness, magnanimity and humanity.