Regional judges to probe judicial crisis
MASERU — Three prominent regional judges are expected to meet Prime Minister Thomas Thabane today on a fact-finding mission meant to find a solution to the crisis in the judiciary.
The judges who were sent by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) arrived in Lesotho on Sunday.
The team was supposed to meet Thabane yesterday morning but the meeting was cancelled because the prime minister had to address a press conference on the coalition government.
The meeting is now expected to take place today although the time is yet to be decided.
The team is headed by Justice Sandile Ngcobo, South Africa’s former chief justice.
Other members of the team are Justice Augustino Ramadhani, former chief justice of Tanzania and Justice Julian Nganunu who is the former chief justice of Botswana.
The team is expected to conclude its mission today after having met several stakeholders.
The ICJ said “the mission arises out of concerns that the reported dispute between the Office of the Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal is undermining the integrity of the judiciary and access to justice”.
“We have been prompted to undertake this intervention following the failure of the January 2013 session of the Court of Appeal,” said Arnold Tsunga, Director of the African programme of the ICJ.
Tsunga said it has become “clear that the reported dispute between the two highest judicial offices in the land is undermining access to court by litigants and therefore subverting justice”.
Although the fight between Justice Mahapela Lehohla and Justice Michael Ramodibedi has been raging for the past few years, it is the recent spate that has caught the attention of international jurists.
In January Justice Ramodibedi was forced to cancel a special session of the Court of Appeal after Justice Lehohla refused to allow High Court Judges to hear cases in the apex court.
Justice Ramodibedi had requested that some High Court judges be allowed to hear appeals because judges in the Court of Appeal, who are all South African, had said they are on holiday.
When Justice Lehohla refused to release the judges Justice Ramodibedi turned to two acting judges, Kananelo Mosito and Motiea Teele.
But they too were ordered by the chief justice not to hear cases in the Court of Appeal, forcing Justice Ramodibedi to cancel the session.
That left the litigants in the six cases that were set to be heard during the session stranded.
Teele immediately resigned, saying he did not want to be dragged into the dispute between the country’s two most senior judges.
The ICJ statement said “the mission aims to gather information from key stakeholders concerning the nature of the crisis in order to make educated and concrete recommendations on the possible solutions that could assists to resolve the problem”.
The three judges met Justice Lehohla in a meeting that reportedly lasted over three hours earlier this week.
They also met the president of the Law Society of Lesotho, Monaheng Rasekoai, and the president of the Lesotho Lawyers for Human Rights Zwelakhe Mda.
They also met some High Court judges, civil society leaders, MPs and several newspaper editors.
After the mission the team will compile a report that the ICJ will give to the government of Lesotho.
The Law Society has already described the fight between the two judges as a “constitutional crisis” and has called on Thabane to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate the crisis in the judiciary.
The Lesotho Lawyers for Human Rights has weighed in with a call for the removal of the Chief Justice, describing him as being at the root of the problems in the judiciary.
The government is yet to take a position on the matter although there are unconfirmed reports that the coalition parties cannot agree on how to deal with the problem.
In the meantime pressure is mounting on the government to deal with the matter.
At a press conference yesterday the coalition government did not clearly state how and when it was going to deal with the problem.
Thabane said issues pertaining to the judiciary are huge and complex but the coalition is working on the “issues in collaboration with the judges”.
“Soon we will announce the resolution reached and I can assure you that very soon there will be a solution,” Thabane said.
Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing said “judicial issues are very important and the government is dealing with them sensitively”.
“The government will adhere to the constitution when dealing with the problems to avoid being accused of political interference with the independence of the judiciary,” he said.
“We are definitely working on the issue with the dignity it deserves,” he added.
The ICJ is an international human rights non-governmental organisation that is active in promoting human rights and the rule of law, whether at the international level, regionally and domestically.
The team
Justice Ramadhani, 68, studied law in Tanzania and the United Kingdom.
He served as the chief justice of Zanzibar for nine years before he was appointed a judge on Tanzania’s Court of Appeal.
He then served as Tanzania’s chief justice from 2007 to 2010. Since 2010 he has been a judge of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, based in Tanzania.
Justice Nganunu, 72, served as the chief justice of Botswana for 14 years.
Before that appointment he had been a judge for six years.
Prior to that, he had served as a senior civil servant for 10 years.
From 1976 to 1979 he was in private practice.
Justice Ngcobo, 60, served as the chief justice of South Africa from 2009 to 2011.
His career was interrupted when he was detained for one year after the 1976 student uprising in South Africa.
He has worked as a judge of the Labour Court, the Supreme Court, Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division and the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He is currently a judge on the Supreme Court of Namibia.
Comment by Phoka-li-maotong on 7 March 2013:
Chief Justice Lehohla should be sent home bag and baggage.
He seems more in politics than the judicial work, and we cannot really expect him to start in the profession now since he has never really been in any judicial practice at any point in time.
Please Ntate Lehohla just go on pension now while you may still be afforded some respect.
Comment by Kausi on 7 March 2013:
There can’t be any better opportunity to send Lehohla and Ramodibedi home than this one. Ntate Thabane hopala hore keresemese e tla hang ka selemo.
I urge Tom Thabane and Co to seize this opportunity and clear the two judges from the bench. They have brought our justice system into disrepute. Not long time ago Justice Ramodibedi was issuing very biased and controversial judgements that were clearly either Pro LCD/DC or Pro mccd. We all know this. Hence it is the time we get rid of the duo.
I advise Tom, the JSC and Phoofolo to send justices Lehohla and Ramodibedi on early retirement.
Comment by LEKHOARA on 7 March 2013:
@Kausi & Phoka ke bona le le clumsy joalo ka Thabane. If Thabane a ka kena taba tsena joalo ka ha le bolela, that would compromise the the doctrine of seperation of powers and the independence of the judiciary as well as the rule of law. Theolang moea bashana ba heso…
Comment by No Name on 8 March 2013:
li chele
Comment by Kausi on 8 March 2013:
@Lekhoara, I think you miss the definition of the so called separation of powers. Allow me to dish out a free lesson. The powers to be separated are to be separated between the parliament, judiciary and executive. Now, in this case(Ramodibedi and Lehohla), the executive is not interfering, rather the head of government(Thabane) is putting things into perspective. Hopopla hore, while Thabane is the chairman of the executive, he is also the head of government. Thabane is right to call the two judges whose behaviour has shocked us all. The exchange of spats between CJ and the president of court of appeal could not be left as is and pretend all is OK when the entire nation could see there is something wrong. This thing(sprawling) started during the rule of mccd and LCD and the poor mccd could not act. Had mccd acted on this matter I am sure we could be calling the Sandile Ndlovus to call the Ramodibedis and Lehohlas to order. Next, I advise Thabane to appoint the commision of inquiry which will, among others, find out if the two men are fit to halt the said offices. As far as I am concerned, the two most senior judges have brought the entire Lesotho justice system into disrepute and it will be in the interest of the nation for the learned judges to just retire. Ke hopola ha mccd a tlameha ho araba CJ, the only thing he did was to redicule the CJ instead of addressing the key points which he CJ was addressing. But poor mccd did not instead he sided with his fellow Qachasnek man. Re mona re mona hobane mccd a sa ka a rarolla taba ena.
Comment by Mahaltreeeee!! on 8 March 2013:
I just hope both of the top jugdes are sent home and the ICJ does not listen to Mda as he has made it very clear that he hates Lehohla and support Ramolibeli, we now question his integrity as legal practitioner of high legal ethics.
Comment by Lefefooane on 8 March 2013:
Ramodibedi with Foxcroft, A.M. Magid and A.M Ebrahim recently upheld the banning of political parties in a landmark case by the opposition organisation the National Constitutional Assembly in Swaziland. The judges argued that they would concentrate on the interpretation of the constitution rather than what “would be beneficial to the country or citizens if the constitution provided something different from what its language requires”. Justice Thomas Masuku, formerly of the Botswana High Court dissented. During his tenure in Botswana, Masuku from Swaziland was largely seen as a liberal voice in the judiciary.
Comment by Joooo on 8 March 2013:
Today o laetse ho koaloe makhotla,what of basotho ba ileng linyeoeng..ha bua sealemoeeng ke eng hore basotho ba tsebe..bathong state funeral tsa lijudge have been held before.why close courts..basotho ba palame ka chelete tsa bona..acheeeeee….o ea court o fumana lekhotla lere o no nehileng….ha ho sa sala ba bang
Comment by LEKHOARA on 8 March 2013:
@Kausi,my point is on the approach, Thabane cannot arbitrarily dismiss the two judges.If the is a problem ka baahloli kapa makhotla, molao o tlama Thabane to set up a commission of inquiry whose findings and recommendations cannot be similar to your wishes.
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Comment by Kausi on 12 March 2013:
@Lekhoara, you must learn to read my entire submissions before you start trying to respond. U ntjoetsa hore “Molao o tlama Thabane to set up a commission of inquiry …….” yet you missed the line in my submission that reads
“….Next, I advise Thabane to appoint the commision of inquiry which will, among others, find out if the two men are fit to halt the said offices……”.
Again you mist use English properly. Who said the findings of the said commission cannot be similar to my wishes? Actually they can. Rather if you used the adverb ‘necessarily’. Yes their findings may not necessarily concur with mine but they can be like mine. I hope this is clear.
Comment by Thabang on 12 March 2013:
I fully agree with Kausi’s proposal that a tribunal should be set up to investigate the actions of both heads of our judiciary. Indeed the PM should take this opportunity to clean-up this judicial mess. The constitution has clearly given the PM all the powers to act in this fashion and that is far from being interference in the judiciary. In any event, I can reliably inform readrs that the CJ has already resigned from office.
Comment by mohlalefi on 13 March 2013:
Hemm!
Comment by Lefefooane on 13 March 2013:
@Thabang, if the CJ has resigned he has done a nobble thing. In fact his resignation is long over due. Next we (the coallation of the wounded) must put more pressure on the Ramodibedi guy to also quit. The president of court of appeal must be pressured to quit as well otherwise we would only be postponing the matter as he will soon be “frustrating” the new CJ. I appeal to prime minister to advice Mr. Ramodibedi to also quit. Re sa utluile ke likahlolo tsa Ntate Ramodibedi. He moahloli eo ea leeme le lekaalo ha e so ‘mone. Every time we knew he would be favouring the then LCD/DC government.
Next we need to import the judges from the Cape Town and Durban bars while we “groom” our own judges. We are far from having a stable bench of judges up there at the palace of justice. I think we are done with current crop of judges, a number of them must be releived of their duties. In my opinion judge Maseforo Mahase should also be advised to retire. So should judge Peete.
Comment by Thabang on 13 March 2013:
@Lefefooane, you seem to have been following matters in the judiciary very closely. I agree with you that the institution needs a complete overhaul. Infact there should be a commission of inquiry aimed at advising the PM on how to fix the mess in the judiciary. The Constitution should also be amended to, firstly, clarify the seniority issue between the President and the Chief justice. Secondly, the composition of the Judicial Service Commission should be widened to include other stakeholders such as the Law Society.