{"id":42954,"date":"2024-02-02T07:13:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T07:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=42954"},"modified":"2024-02-02T06:36:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T06:36:42","slug":"govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","title":{"rendered":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about the current state of the judiciary in Botswana.<\/b><\/p>\n

The LSB decision is seen as reflecting growing apprehension about a potential judicial crisis and erosion of democratic principles in Botswana.<\/p>\n

But inspite of this unprecedented development, the Department of Administration of Justice (AoJ) and the Ministry of Justice have not thus far engaged with LSB over its decision.<\/p>\n

Social media<\/p>\n

At the Ministry of Justice, the minister Machana Shamukuni, says he is only aware of the matter from seeing it on social media. \u201cI have only seen it on social media,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese matters are usually addressed to the Chief Justice, and not to my office. At this stage, I have not been briefed regarding anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, sources say it is unlikely that the matter was not presented when President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his ministers held their first cabinet meeting of this year on 29 January.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a problem\u201d<\/p>\n

Said a prominent lawyer who preferred to remain anonymous: \u201cIf the matter was not discussed at the cabinet meeting, then we have a problem as a country and should all be concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue exposes how our democracy has eroded and ought to be given the attention it deserves. I do not want to say much but the concerns have been clearly articulated by LSB.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of LSB adopted a motion to boycott this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony on Monday this week over their frustrations with the AoJ.<\/p>\n

Bribery<\/p>\n

In a letter to its members, it outlined a series of concerns, among them failed engagements, unfulfilled commitments, delays in payment of pro deo fees, issuing of default judgements, collapse of the roll system, as well as reports of judicial misconduct like bribery and some judges writing judgements for others.<\/p>\n

LSB plans to hold an event parallel to the official Legal Year ceremony on 6 February.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about the current state of the judiciary in Botswana. The LSB decision is seen as reflecting growing apprehension about a potential judicial crisis and erosion of democratic principles in Botswana. But inspite of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":42953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-42954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\"},\"wordCount\":345,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\",\"name\":\"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg\",\"width\":1170,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis - Botswana","description":"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis","og_description":"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis","datePublished":"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis"},"wordCount":345,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis","name":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-02T07:13:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will not participate in this year\u2019s Legal Year ceremony because of concerns about t ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/02\/sm_1706842836.140571.jpg","width":1170,"height":600,"caption":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/govt-mum-about-looming-judicial-crisis#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Govt Mum About Looming Judicial Crisis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}