-Delayed judgement must be delivered by March end
Newly-appointed head of the Judiciary has made it clear that no excuse would be tolerated for the delay in delivering judgments by judicial officers.
There has been a longstanding outcry by litigants and the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) over the delay in delivering of judgements by some judges.
Chief Justice, Gaolapelwe Gaolapelwe stated this week that the LSB has raised concerns regarding poor service delivery, particularly delayed delivery of judgments by some judges.
“The complaints, as we must acknowledge, are not without basis. This is a matter that has therefore caused us some anxiety as judges, and we have done a bit of soul searching.
“We acknowledge that some of our judges have not been complying with the service standards set out in our rules of court pertaining to timely delivery of judgments,” he said this week during the official opening of the 2025 Legal Year.
The Chief Justice indicated that with this acknowledgement on their part, they have resolved as judges, particularly those in default, that every judge with delayed judgments as of Tuesday this week must have delivered such judgment or judgments by the end of March this year.
He revealed that this undertaking will be enforced with ruthless tenacity and no excuses will be entertained. He explained that this however, should not be understood to mean that all of ‘our Judges’ are in default given the extreme caseloads that Judges carry.
According to the chief justice, a good majority of the Judges are delivering, and delivering on time.
“I have also consulted with the Honourable Attorney General. She has shared with me a number of issues which she thinks impact, in a negative way, the efficient and speed delivery of quality service in the justice ecosystem.
“She complains, and rightly so in my view, about congested court diaries. We are however, both agreed that this is due mainly to the limited number of judicial officers,” Justice Gaolapelwe said.
He highlighted that the number of cases has been growing exponentially in the few years immediately preceding this reporting period. The growth in the number of cases coming through courts, he said, has not been matched by a corresponding growth in the number of judicial officers.
“The Attorney General has also decried the lack of a system interface in the entire justice ecosystem. I agree with her. I have accordingly tasked the Chief Registrar to enquire with other government organisations with a more robust computerised system and see if we cannot benchmark.
“I have been given an example of the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), whose computerised system has received praise from some of our stakeholders who have graciously shared their experiences with us,” he told the gathering.
The Chief Justice emphasised that what is of importance is for them to come up with solutions and not to try and outwit one another in their ability to state and define the problems.
There has been a longstanding outcry by litigants and the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) over the delay in delivering of judgements by some judges.
Chief Justice, Gaolapelwe Gaolapelwe stated this week that the LSB has raised concerns regarding poor service delivery, particularly delayed delivery of judgments by some judges.
“The complaints, as we must acknowledge, are not without basis. This is a matter that has therefore caused us some anxiety as judges, and we have done a bit of soul searching.
“We acknowledge that some of our judges have not been complying with the service standards set out in our rules of court pertaining to timely delivery of judgments,” he said this week during the official opening of the 2025 Legal Year.
The Chief Justice indicated that with this acknowledgement on their part, they have resolved as judges, particularly those in default, that every judge with delayed judgments as of Tuesday this week must have delivered such judgment or judgments by the end of March this year.
He revealed that this undertaking will be enforced with ruthless tenacity and no excuses will be entertained. He explained that this however, should not be understood to mean that all of ‘our Judges’ are in default given the extreme caseloads that Judges carry.
According to the chief justice, a good majority of the Judges are delivering, and delivering on time.
“I have also consulted with the Honourable Attorney General. She has shared with me a number of issues which she thinks impact, in a negative way, the efficient and speed delivery of quality service in the justice ecosystem.
“She complains, and rightly so in my view, about congested court diaries. We are however, both agreed that this is due mainly to the limited number of judicial officers,” Justice Gaolapelwe said.
He highlighted that the number of cases has been growing exponentially in the few years immediately preceding this reporting period. The growth in the number of cases coming through courts, he said, has not been matched by a corresponding growth in the number of judicial officers.
“The Attorney General has also decried the lack of a system interface in the entire justice ecosystem. I agree with her. I have accordingly tasked the Chief Registrar to enquire with other government organisations with a more robust computerised system and see if we cannot benchmark.
“I have been given an example of the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), whose computerised system has received praise from some of our stakeholders who have graciously shared their experiences with us,” he told the gathering.
The Chief Justice emphasised that what is of importance is for them to come up with solutions and not to try and outwit one another in their ability to state and define the problems.
