Restore sanity in judiciary

HIGH Court and Court of Appeal registrar ‘Mathato Sekoai will go down in history as the woman who antagonised the entire High Court bench.
In the end the whole bench ganged up against her and got her redeployed.
On Wednesday, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) relented to pressure from High Court judges and finally redeployed Sekoai as Chief Magistrate South.
The decision to redeploy Sekoai came after the judges began boycotting court on Monday demanding that she should either be sacked or redeployed.
In the end they triumphed.
But while the ink was still wet, the Judicial Officers Association of Lesotho, an organisation that advances the interests of magistrates in Lesotho, raised their own objections to Sekoai’s redeployment.
They argued that Sekoai’s appointment was not procedural as the vacant position of Chief Magistrate South had not been advertised in line with standing rules.
They also charge that Sekoai does not qualify for this senior appointment as the post needs someone with “long (sic) experience as a judicial officer”.
They charge that Sekoai “has no iota of judicial experience”.
The association says it is also not happy that Sekoai has been appointed to this senior post at a time when she is facing charges of corruption that cast serious aspersions on her ethical integrity.
The magistrates are now therefore demanding that Sekoai’s appointment be revoked immediately.
They have warned they will embark on protest action tomorrow if their demands are not met.
The threat to embark on industrial action by the magistrates is yet another highlight of the grave challenges facing our judiciary.
This is a judiciary that has grown accustomed to hobbling from one crisis to another over the past few years.
The infighting within the judiciary has stymied the delivery of justice.
In fact the wheels of justice were at a standstill at the Palace of Justice this week, all because the judges wanted the registrar out.
It is precisely because of the gravity of the matter that we are now persuaded to agree with Law Society of Lesotho president Zwelakhe Mda’s call last week that it is now time for Chief Justice Mahapela Lehohla to quit.
Of course we do not doubt that Justice Lehohla is a brilliant judge and a man of integrity who has given his all to the service of his country.
We also do not doubt that he has been a loyal servant of this country who has executed his duties with aplomb.
But we would be failing in our duty as a newspaper if we do not point out that in spite of all these achievements his administration of the country’s judiciary has been found wanting.
We certainly would do with a new broom as the head of the country’s judiciary.
Brilliant as he is it is our hope that the chief justice will have the humility to admit that his department is in one hell of a mess.
As head, the buck stops with him.
The persistent challenges within the judiciary should be seen as an indictment of his leadership.
We are concerned that judges had to be forced to boycott cases to get what they wanted.
In fact the boycott should be seen as a no confidence vote in the chief justice’s administration.
As we have argued in previous editorials the unending infighting within the judiciary takes the focus away from the fundamental issue — delivering justice to the people of this country.
As courts grind to a halt, it is the ordinary man who is forced to wait for justice.
It is precisely for this reason that we think it is time to bring sanity back into the judiciary.
We remain alive to the fact that the chief justice is not solely to blame for the crisis in the judiciary.
The government has contributed immensely to the problem by financially starving the judiciary.
It has forced the courts to operate on a shoestring budget and many a times they have had to go cap in hand to the government.
You know a country is in trouble when a judiciary is reduced to begging.
The chief justice might have failed administratively but his exit alone will not solve the cash crisis at the courts.
Sekoai might have had her own weaknesses that led to her redeployment but it will be preposterous to assume that her removal will bring sanity to the judiciary.