Judiciary thrown into further disarray
CJ approves employment of financially embarrassed officer Ignored advice regarding the employment No impropriety, the officer rectified - Chief registrar Dube- Gobotswang President Masisi mum on Judicial crisis
It never rains but pours for the judiciary which has been marred by controversy for some time now. Chief Justice, Terrence Rannowane has not been spared in the secretive shenanigans that continue to leak through the Administration of Justice’s roof. Fresh information gathered by Botswana Guardian has revealed that the Chief Justice has been at it again in the recruitment of officials for the judiciary especially for the high positions of registrars. Justice Rannowane is now accused of violating the Rules of the High Court recently when he approved the recruitment of one Deputy Registrar and Master of the High Court while her standing to be appointed was questionable. Investigations by Botswana Guardian have turned up information that the appointee ( name known to this publication) got the nod from the CJ even though she was financially embarrassed. The Rules of the Court prohibit the appointment of such individuals as it is not good for the integrity of the judiciary. The officer who joins the judiciary from the Attorney General where she served as a senior attorney, is said to have been preferred over other deserving and qualifying officers from within the Judiciary. According to sources, the CJ agreed to the employment of the said individual allegedly due to pressure from the Chief Registrar and Master of the High Court and Registrar of the Appeals Court. It is alleged within the corridors of the Judiciary that the CJ eats from the palm of the Chief Registrar, as she holds sensitive information against the Chief Justice. One incident is said to be an accident which involved the Chief Justice’s official motor vehicle, in which his driver was involved in a car accident while running personal errands outside working hours in Francistown.
According to sources, the BMW 5 Series G30 was repaired from the public coffers and the driver not surcharged on fears that he could spill the beans. The Chief Registrar and Master of the High Court Jennifer Dube- Gobotswang denies that the accident was last year but rather in 2019 in the wee hours, while the driver was on the way to fetch the Chief Justice who was attending a funeral. Botswana Guardian has established that Justice Rannowane went ahead with the employment of the Deputy Registrar even after it was brought to his attention that the officer who had already taken oath has a writ of execution against her for owing Standard Chartered Bank. He is said to have ignored the advice that it would be unlawful to forge ahead with the employment of the officer. What put the Chief Justice between a rock and a hard place other than the pressure from the Chief Registrar is said to have been the fact that the officer had already handed her resignation at the AG Chambers. While Administration of Justice claims that the officer rectified, it has been argued that at the time of her appointment, they were aware of her position and it does not matter whether she rectified it or not. “AoJ employees have been overlooked for promotions before on that account of being financially embarrassed. It is a non- negotiable Rule. A default writ of the execution was issued, there is no other definition of financial embarrassment than failing to pay your debts until the writ is issued. “The employee should have not qualified even for interview because people of the position of Registrar of the High Court deal with sensitive matters such as matters relating to liquidations,” one of the sources at AoJ said.
Due diligence is said to have been ignored by the powers that be at the Judiciary while it has been the norm to do such with all other employees.
Chief Registrar and Master of the High Court Jeniffer Dube- Gobotswang said in response to the allegation that it is not in the nature of the Administration of Justice to discuss their employees’ issues with the media or anybody else. She said matters that are internal, irrespective of how serious they may be, are dealt with through internal structures following established policies, systems and processes.
“Since it is clear that you have had access to information and discussions that you ordinarily should never have accessed, I provide the following for purposes of clarification only. The Judicial Service Commission interviewed 12 candidates to fill four vacant positions of Deputy Registrar and Master.
“The candidates were first sent for competency- based assessments at a private independent assessment centre and thereafter were called for oral interviews on the 12th of November 2021. “The top four candidates in both the competency assessments and oral interviews were recommended for appointment and the Judicial Service Commission’s recommendations were approved,” the Chief Registrar explained. She said a perusal of the court documents indicate that the application for a writ in respect of one of the candidates was filed with Court long after the interviews were held. The writ was brought to the attention of the Chief Justice by an officer of the Judiciary who had been interviewed but had not been successful in both the competency assessment and the interview, she said, adding that by this time the candidate, who was coincidentally the highest achiever in both the private independent competency assessment and the oral interview, had already been appointed and was serving notice with her former employer.
According to Dube- Gobotswang upon investigation, the referred candidate was found to have rectified her arrears concerning her mortgage repayments and documentation was sent to the Judiciary by the attorneys instructed by the bank in question who confirmed that the referred candidate’s mortgage repayments were up- to- date and there were no arrears and monthly instalments were being made to the bank. She said following receipt of the confirmation from the attorneys instructed by the bank on the 27th October 2022, the officer took oath of office on the 1st of November 2022. She contended that there was therefore, no impropriety in the manner in which the interviews were conducted and in the selection of the top four performing candidates.“In relation to the allegation of a motor vehicle accident, please note that contrary to your allegation that the car accident occurred last year, the Chief Justice’s vehicle was last involved in a vehicular accident on 24th August 2019. At the time the Hon. Chief Justice was attending a funeral of a Senior Judicial Officer’s father as is customary, to support the bereaved employee.
“Please be further advised that the accident occurred at 05: 00hrs in the morning when the Chief Justice’s driver was on the way to pick up the Hon. Chief Justice from the hotel to transport him to the funeral.
“Contrary to your allegation, it was not the Hon. Chief Justice’s driver who was found to have caused the accident but the driver of the private motor vehicle who was subsequently charged with driving without due care and attention and driving under the influence of alcohol with the alcohol in his blood exceeding prescribed limit,” DubeGobotswang said in response to a questionnaire. Accusations against Justice Rannowane come at a time when the judiciary is clouded by crisis which is likely to affect public confidence.
The Chief Justice finds himself at the centre of controversy over interference on the work of other judges. Critics have called on President Mokgweetsi Masisi to institute a commission of enquiry on the chief justice’s fitness to hold such office. Masisi has however contrary to expectations of many remained mum on the judicial crisis even during his state of the nation address delivered on Monday this week.