05 Feb 2025

Although courts specialising in corruption cases have been in place for years now, their effectiveness has not been fully realised.

In fact, Chief Justice, Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe reckons that the pace at which corruption cases were handled was slow.

He was speaking at the official opening of the 2025 legal yesterday. 

“It would seem we had for a while engaged in a cold war type of approach in relation to this type of cases,” he said.

Chief Justice Ketlogetswe said there was a need to re-examine the processes of such courts with a view to strengthening their effectiveness.

He said as part of empowerment and capacity building process, there would be training of senior magistrates to effectively deal with corruption cases.

Also, he said in order to speed up cases, particularly those of a commercial nature, and in order to support the government in its endeavor to create an investment friendly justice ecosystem, courts specialising in commercial cases would be introduced before the end of this year.

“Preliminary processes for its establishment will be earnestly put in place during the second quarter of this year,” he said.

Chief Justice Ketlogetswe also decried ritual killings, which he said had become a scourge and needed new approaches as a matter of urgency.

“This will be done as a matter of urgency, as we recognise that cases of ritual killings pose a real and serious threat to the security and safety of our people. It appears those killing people for ritualistic purposes did as they pleased,” he said.

The Chief Justice further said the conduct must be brought to an abrupt end by an effective crime detection and prosecution justice system.

Regarding gender based and other domestic violence cases, he said there was a need to standardise the manner in which the procedures and processes in the handling of gender based and other domestic violence cases were done.

Chief Justice Ketlogetswe said such would require training, up-skilling and re-tooling of the soft skills of magistrates handling such cases.

For her part, attorney general, Ms Mmako Abram said access to justice and the speedy resolution of cases was at the heart of an efficient and effective Judiciary, which was the type of Judiciary the Attorney General yearned for.

She said it was crucial that all the role players in the justice ecosystem be adequately resourced to enable them to deliver on their respective mandates.

“I believe therefore that, it is time that we take advantage of innovations in the digital space and embark on reforms such as e-filing so that litigants and attorneys do not have to travel long distances to file court processes such as summons, pleadings or to receive court orders, rolls, judgments and rulings, but can do so in the comfort of their homes and offices," she said.

Ms Abram said this was not only cost-saving but also less time-consuming and convenient.

Also, she said the issue of conditions of service for government lawyers remained thorny and ought to be prioritised as a matter of urgency.

She said in recognition of the importance of this subject, her office continued to advocate for the enhancement of conditions of service for government lawyers in order to retain them.

This includes, but not limited to, achieving alignment and parity in remuneration and other benefits in respect of public service lawyers, deployment of robust attraction and retention packages, and increased manpower.

However, she said as the attorney general continued to push for the betterment of lawyers' conditions of service, it acknowledged financial constraints faced by the government.

The 2025 legal year was held under the theme: Future Outlook. ENDS