Caswell Tlali
MASERU — Magistrates and judiciary commissioners at the Maseru Magistrate’s Court are fighting over a door.
A group of magistrates have since written to Acting Chief Justice Tšeliso Monaphathi complaining that the judicial commissioners have blocked their access to another part of their shared building. The High Court Registrar Lesitsi Mokeke confirmed that the magistrates have written to Justice Monaphathi who is yet to deal with the matter.
“We have received a complaint from the magistrates and their letter specifies that a passage leading to the other part of the building has been blocked,” Mokeke said on Friday. “They also complained that locks have been changed or tampered with and they totally do not have access to that other side of the building,” he said. This paper understands that the door the magistrates are complaining about had been locked for the past three years.
This is the second time magistrates and judiciary commissioners have clashed in less than three months.
In March there was uproar over whether the magistrates should hear appeals from the customary courts.
A circular instructing the magistrates to hear appeals from customary courts was never released after much noise about its legality.
At that time Senior Resident Magistrate ’Makampong Mokhoro confirmed to the Lesotho Times that the Chief Magistrate ’Matankiso Nthunya was about to release such a circular. Under the law appeals for cases dealt with in customary courts are taken to the Judicial Commissioner’s Courts. If magistrates are given powers to hear appeals from local and central courts the Judicial Commissioners will be rendered redundant and their courts will have to be annulled.
The plan had angered judicial commissioners and the presidents of the local and central courts who felt that magistrates are not competent enough to handle customary issues.