{"id":6141,"date":"2021-11-22T10:42:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T10:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chief-justice-urged-to-crack-the-whip"},"modified":"2021-11-22T11:31:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T11:31:26","slug":"chief-justice-urged-to-crack-the-whip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chief-justice-urged-to-crack-the-whip","title":{"rendered":"Chief Justice urged to \u2018crack the whip\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Some of the Judges of the High Court have come under fire for not providing reasons in their judgements. Taking aim at this practice, the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Kananelo Mosito<\/p>\n

expressed the displeasure on account of this conduct urging the Chief Justice to \u201ccrack the whip\u201d during the opening of the apex court on Monday this week.<\/p>\n

The legal year for the apex court is in April every year. This is an adopted practice from England, although the latter\u2019s legal year commences in October.<\/p>\n

This court has two sessions which are in April and October. The court will hear 33 cases from April 12th to April 21st, while April 22nd to May 13rd will be reserved for writing<\/p>\n

the judgments and the judgments are scheduled to be delivered on May 14th. The President said the obligation to give reasons in the judgements goes back from 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudges must account for their decisions,\u201d said Judge Mosito. He said without advancing the reasons, it is \u201cimpossible\u201d to tell how they have arrived at their ruling. Justice Mosito further<\/p>\n

added that the obligation to give reasons makes it clear on the basis of their decisions, saying that furnishing the judgements with the reasons is in<\/p>\n

conformity with the law. He also revealed that majority of the judgement lack reasons. Judge Mosito charged that the apex court will adopt the tougher stance against this practice if this persists, adding that<\/p>\n

the court will decline to hear the cases or postpone them or stand them down to demand reasons for the judgements. He emphasised that lack of provision of the reasons make the Court of Appeal as though it is the<\/p>\n

first court. \u201cThis is not what the Court of Appeal was established for. \u201d The President stated that in the absence of the decisions, it becomes difficult to challenge such an<\/p>\n

outcome. He also warned that failure to provide reasons could lead to \u201cquashing of the decisions\u201d adding that the reasons bring the \u201ctransparency\u201d on the<\/p>\n

judgements. \u201cSecuring fairness is crucial to the attainment of justice,\u201d he emphasised. He added: \u201cWe appeal to Chief Justice to preside over the judges,\u201d Justice Mosito charged.<\/p>\n

The President also mentioned that the court had been in consultation with the relevant stakeholders on the work of the court. Notably, he said prior to the previous norm that the court would take a week to pen about 40<\/p>\n

judgements, from now they are going to take three weeks for this exercise. He said due to high volume of the work of the court, it should guard against the decline of \u201cquality<\/p>\n

assurance\u201d. Justice Mosito remarked that: \u201cWe certainly need quality assurance mechanisms\u201d. The President however warned that the stakeholders opined that the court should await the<\/p>\n

implementation of the ongoing multi-sector reforms. The seven thematic areas which are under the reform following the Southern African Development Community<\/p>\n

(SADC) 2016 report will cover the Judiciary as one of the components to be<\/p>\n

reformed. He said judges in the discharge of their duties are met with criticism adding that sometimes they come under \u201cintense scrutiny\u201d. Justice Mosito said<\/p>\n

when executing their roles, the Judges must not be under any influence both nationally and internationally. He said the Judges who hear political cases are<\/p>\n

subjected to \u201cintense criticism\u201d over the media platforms. The President warned that \u201cimproper \u201cexertion must not be exerted to the judges. Taking stock of the<\/p>\n

Covid-19, he said that 2020 and 2021 have been \u201cextra-ordinary\u201d years for Lesotho and the rest of the world owing to the deadly virus which had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) while the government<\/p>\n

had declared it an emergency. He said the Judiciary and its officers have not been spared by this deadly virus further paying homage to the departed Judge of the Commercial Division of the High Court Judge<\/p>\n

Lisebo Chaka Makhoane whom in July last year succumbed to the Covid-19. The Appeal Court President also thanked the retired judges of the High Court Justices Teboho<\/p>\n

Moiloa and Semapo Peete for their contribution to the bench. He said they have contributed the diversity and strengthened the courts. \u201cWe are deeply grateful<\/p>\n

for their contribution and wish them the best in their retirement. \u201d Similarly, Justice Mosito congratulated Justice Sakoane Sakoane for the ascendency of the High<\/p>\n

Court bench following his appointment as the Chief Justice (CJ) replacing the then Acting Chief Justice \u2018Maseforo Mahase who has been holding the fort since<\/p>\n

2018. He said CJ Sakoane brings wealth of experience to the bench. Judge Mosito went on to appeal that \u201cthe new (CJ) broom must sweep clean\u201d. The Appeal Court has only one local Judge, who<\/p>\n

is also its president, Justice Mosito while the rest are from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. In 2020 owing to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the<\/p>\n

restricted travelling which had been imposed by many countries to curb the spread of the deadly virus, the judges of this court heard the cases remotely<\/p>\n

from their countries. Also this year, the Judges will be hearing the cases remotely. These are: Justice Petrus Damaseb from Namibia, Justice Moses Hungwe Chinhengo from Zimbabwe, Justice Philip Musonda and Justice November Tafima Mtshiya from Zambia and Justice Van der Westheisn from South Africa.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Some of the Judges of the High Court have come under fire for not providing reasons in their judgements. Taking aim at this practice, the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Kananelo Mosito expressed the displeasure on account of this conduct urging the Chief Justice to \u201ccrack the whip\u201d during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,246,405,828,245],"class_list":["post-6141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-chief","tag-justice","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nChief Justice urged to \u2018crack the whip\u2019 - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some of the Judges of the High Court have come under fire for not providing reasons in their judgements. 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