Court rejects unwanted Mmutlane Kgosana
Judge President Modiri Letsididi has dismissed with costs an application of Shoshong royal, Kgosi Felix Kgamane and ousted Kgosana of Mmutlane village, Letlaareng Lekhutlile who went to court in March 2023 pleading for the striking out of Letsididi’s August 2022 judgment that reviewed and set aside government’s decision to appoint Lekhutlile as Kgosana of Mmutlane.
Lekhutlile was removed as Kgosana after 54 disgruntled Mmutlane villagers dragged her and government to court in 2021, arguing that she was not the rightful person to occupy the seat at the
Government had appointed Lekhutlile as Kgosana on July 2020, with her inauguration following in 2021.
Based on the arguments presented to court in March 2022, Letsididi granted the 54 villagers their wish by declaring the post of Kgosana in Mmutlane vacant. He also referred the appointment of Kgosana back to the tribe. After judgement, Lekhutlile made it clear to The Midweek Sun that she was not stepping down, saying she does not recognise the judgement, as she was never informed about being part of court proceedings.
Then in March 2023, Lekhutlile and Kgamane, the latter who was cited as second respondent in the 2021 case, filed a fresh application in an effort to reverse the 2022 judgment.
The matter again came before Letsididi, who has once more, ruled in favour of the 54 villagers. In their application, Lekhutlile and Kgamane had asked for an order striking out the judgement or alternatively rescinding and setting it aside. They argued that they had no representation during proceedings and that the Attorney General had given a false impression that it was representing all respondents in 2021 when that was not true. Their complaints were many. The Attorney General did not inform them about court events. In fact, the state legal representative had no mandate or authority to represent them.
They had only the originating documents and no other documents from subsequent proceedings including the hearing. They were convinced that the judgement was erroneously sought and granted. The villagers’ 2021 application was time barred as the decision to appoint Lekhutlile as Kgosana was made in July 2020. In response, the villagers said the applicants concede to having known about the case because they were served originating documents and that was sufficient notice.
Moreover, the blame for lack of their participation must not be placed on them but the applicants themselves for not properly engaging with their attorney. In his judgement, Letsididi said that after delivering judgement in August 2022, almost two months later in October 2022, the second appellant Kgamane, through his attorneys filed grounds of appeal with the court’s registry. But nothing more was done until almost six months later (13th March) when they filed their application. The applicants, he said, defended their actions by stating that the reason they brought the matter almost six months later was because they were engaging one attorney after the other for legal representation. “In my view that explanation is unacceptable as it would not have taken that long to file this application, two months after the judgement was delivered, a notice of appeal was filed and nothing thereafter was done by the applicants. The delay was therefore unreasonable in the circumstances,” Letsididi said.
According to the law, he said once court has made a final judgement it becomes functus officio, meaning it has no authority to correct, supplement or alter its judgement unless for certain exception.