Ketlogetswe faces off with Masisi, CJ
● Ropes in top attorneys against Masisi, CJ and JSC
High Court Judge, Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe has roped in top legal hawks for his case against President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Chief Justice (CJ) Terence Rannowane and the Judicial Service Commission ( JSC). The move clearly shows that the man is not backing down without a fight.
Ketlogetswe, who made news headlines recently after he accused the Chief Justice and the Minister for State President, Kabo Morwaeng of judicial interference with regards to Lobatse legislator, Dr Thapelo Matsheka’s case, has filed a law suit against the above mentioned seeking an interdict. At the time of the news blitz, Ketlogetswe had made a series of accusations against the pair alleging they had tried to influence his decision regarding the case in which Matsheka was accused of kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old Lobatse boy, Tlotso Karema, for ritual purposes.
The aggrieved judge’s interim interdict application is as a result of reporting CJ to Masisi who then referred his (Ketlogetswe’s) complaint to the JSC as he does not want the Commission to deal with his matter.
Now, in his new application seeking to stop the JSC from hearing the matter, Ketlogetswe, whose attorneys of records are Motlhala Ketshabile, has also roped in some of the country’s finest legal brains that include
Advocate Duma
Boko, Senior
Counsel Dick
Bayford and
Boingotlo is represented by Phazha Molebatsi and Diba Diba from Thabiso Tafila Attorneys.
The top legal minds all appeared on Tuesday before Justice Dr Godfrey Radijeng of the Gaborone High Court as the case was scheduled for hearing. There is no doubt that the case is of a high profile looking at the fact that it involves the President and the Chief Justice and such it is only right that Justice Ketlogetswe would want to leave no stones unturned in his pursuit for redress. Advocate Boko, SC Bayford and Toteng are in some quarters regarded as top attorneys who are ready to fight on the side of the law and Boko has always been vocal about the capture of the Judiciary by the powers that be.
A little back in 2008 when Boko was the chairperson of the Law Society of Botswana (LSB), he delivered a speech in which he talked about the sing-along judges who have infested the courts.
As if he had already envisioned a bleak and controversial Judiciary, Boko spoke seriously of how the Judiciary was heading for a disaster if issues of concern to the legal fraternity were not addressed.
Extracts from his then speech highlighted the problems besieging the Judiciary and what would happen if care was not given to deal with the matters. “In the halls of justice, in the ordered elegance of our courts, we swear. We are sworn to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It is our job; it is our calling to speak humbling truths. We must speak the kinds of truths which, in a nasty, nagging and uncomfortable sometimes even irritating - way, remain true!” he said.
“For a long time,
our justice system was bedeviled by a persistent problem. In the tricky constitutional threesome involving the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, the Judiciary has a critical role to play. The Constitution bestows upon the Judiciary the awesome power to interpret it and ensure that the other branches of government stay within the locus of their constitutionally defined powers,” reads the extracts from the speech.
Boko further pointed out that the Judiciary was showing signs of weakness or perceived as such and that the perceived weakness may result in a Judiciary that allowed itself to become a willing hostage to executive will.
“We have seen in the determination of many constitutional and human rights cases disturbing levels of deference to executive action. We have been assailed from our High Court and worse, our Court of Appeal, with a jurisprudence of limitation and defensive anxiety. We have judges who subscribe to a truncated and ineffectual application of the Constitution of this Republic.
“These are sing-along judges who still allow the Executive to wave that internationally tarnished talisman of ‘national security’ to hold people in detention without trial,” he said. Boko has constantly talked about how as a legal profession they needed to confront the jurisprudence and speak to its tensions and predicaments and to constantly reaffirm their unwavering commitment to the rule of law, which was about judicial independence and integrity.
“It demands of the judges the moral authority and the courage to check any lapses and excesses by the other branches of government.
The rule of law also requires a robust and fiercely independent legal profession. It is all nice and prestigious to refer to ourselves as “Learned” and ‘Honourable’ to hide behind the garbs and accolades of virtues we are assumed to possess. But we must pause and ask ourselves a
simple question sometimes,” he said.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that the legal hawks would be interested in Justice Ketlogetswe because as it stands now the Judiciary has been marred with controversies. Just recently after the revelation by Justice Ketlogetswe, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko also blew the lid on the happenings in the Judiciary.
She also accused the President of judicial interference regarding the tribe’s case with the State and the Malete Land Board. At the time, Kgosi Mosadi spoke about how she was called to Masisi’s office and told not to fight for her tribe and that she would be given the land back after the judgment.
“The President told me that he had already spoken to the Court of Appeal judges regarding the case and said that the judges who handled the case at the High Court were mischievous to have ruled against the State,” she revealed.
The revelation by Kgosi Mosadi was also a time for the president of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Boko’s chance to criticise Masisi’s poor leadership as he did not miss the opportunity to take a swipe at the latter during his visit to South Africa that was aired on the neighbouring country’s national television, SABC.
As matters stand, all these controversies unfolding in the Judiciary have sparked both public interest and legal profession that many are waiting to see where the direction the wind will
blow.