Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Law Society of Lesotho president, Advocate Tekane Maqakachane, has been hauled to the coals for his stinging statement against judges at Justice Thamsanqa Nomncongo’s memorial service. Advocate Maqakachane is feeling the heat from two sides.
On one hand, Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane, who is annoyed by the statement, wants him to explain what he meant when said some judges should be employed in the taxi industry instead of the bench.
On the other hand, some members of council of the Law Society are accusing him of driving a wedge between the society and judges. In an unprecedented bare-knuckle attack, Advocate Maqakachane said the situation in the judiciary is “toxic and not conducive to principled, morally upright and hardworking judges”.
He said the bench has been “stratified along political lines and other interests” and some judges have formed their little fiefdoms and each is responsible to a chief-agitator amongst their group”.
Advocate Maqakachane also said there is mismanagement, maladministration, lack of or misuse of resources, selective allocation of cases and unequal distribution of judicial work.
Those words did not go down well with Chief Justice Sakoane who apart from demanding an explanation also hinted that he might bring criminal charges against Advocate Maqakachane if he doesn’t respond.
Although such sentiments are not new and have been echoed by lawyers as well as some senior judiciary officers in other forums, they have riled some law society council members.
The members accuse Advocate Maqakachane of writing the statement without consulting them. They also say Justice Nomcongo’s memorial service was not an appropriate platform for such remarks.
The members also complain about Advocate Maqakachane’s letter responding to the chief justice’s instructions to explain his statement at the memorial.
Curiously, Advocate Lineo Tuke, who read the statement on Advocate Maqakachane’s behalf as his vice president, is one of the council members leading the charge against him.
Advocate Tuke is one of the four council members who have penned a letter to Advocate Maqakachane, accusing him of spoiling the society’s relations with the Chief Justice.
The others are Advocate Isaacs, Advocate Pheko and Advocate Makara. “The events of last week have soured relations to a point where it has become near impossible to have fruitful dialogue with the judiciary,” the letter said.
They said Advocate Maqakachane’s statement was “unnecessary and scandalous”. They ordered him to write a letter of apology to the Chief Justice failing which they will suspend him from his office because they “will consider you as a rogue president”.
“You did not act accordingly as you did not even invite us to comment on the statement during its drafting but rather just sent us a final statement and ordered Advocate Tuke to go and talk on your behalf,” the Law Society said, distancing itself from his statement.
“The statement is not on the Law Society letterhead and you marked that it is authored by you and you made sure to print your name,” the letter said.
“This effort you took with full knowledge that you will not be able to address personally due to your health. It did not befall to you that in your absence Adv.
Tuke in his capacity as deputy will handle the address nor did it occur to you that the available members of the council would prepare the statement which represents the minds of the collectives.
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“It seems to us that you take ownership of statements or actions when there is a possible reward in a form of validation by the general membership but immediately when there is a possibility of punishment, you cloak yourself with the office of the Council and place us in the direct firing line,” the letter said.
“This is a very unfortunate mode of operation and we cannot accept it.
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“We will not discuss the fact that you decided to utter your frustration during the time of mourning for both the colleagues and family members of the deceased.
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“We will not ask you if you genuinely believe that it was the best platform to put forth blatant punches to the integrity of members of the bench at an event organised to remember and celebrate the life of Justice Thamsanqa Nomncongo,” they said.
Advocate Maqakachane responded that the memorial service “was a most appropriate time or moment to memorialize the life and experience of Justice Thami, how the toxic environment in the High Court contributed to accelerating his demise”.
He said the statement was meant to “make a plea for change in the interest of those still living and continuing to do their work in the judiciary”. He said if members would have chosen to do so through other means, “that did not disqualify the relevancy of the memorial service moment and the authority I had to make the statement on those issues”.
He said the council has no right to order him to do what they wanted in their letter but rather should call the meeting of council where they can resolve not to ratify the decisions he made.
“My conscience sticks to these values and principles as a needle to the pole.
I will never sell my soul to the temporary conveniences of the time, I have taken an oath to serve the Law Society, uphold the institutional rule thereof, and it is this society to which I am responsible,” he said in a letter.
“I find myself going forward, having to work on a daily or weekly basis with Council membership which clearly do not share the same values, vision and aspirations that make what the Law Society to be,” he said.
Advocate Maqakachane said that when important constitutional issues are being raised with the administration of justice, and acting as he did, he did not fathom that on that account, he would be dubbed as a “rogue President”.
“It is baffling that you are already intending to report to the Registrar that the President has been directed to apologise, as you do, even before the general members could be informed accordingly on this issue,” he said. He said he is getting ready to resign as law society president.
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