Water For Justice

CHIEF JUSTICE OFFICIATES 1ST SESSION OF HQ

Chief Justice Mahapela Lehohla says there has been a resounding progress in the publication of Judgments of Superior Courts of Lesotho. He was officially opening the 2009 first session of the High Court (HQ) in Maseru on Monday.

Justice Lehohla said these judgments were published in the internet and are now accessible on www.saflii.org. The Chief Justice said the Judiciary will now benefit from e-filing introduced in September 2008 to prevent files that go missing. He however pointed out that it will take some time to phase out the manual filing system. 'Thus till the e-filing is able to operate exclusively on its own, the two systems will operate side by side', he added.

The Chief Justice Lehohla stated that highlights for 2008 include compilation of annual report, formal launch of Sentencing Guideline and “Ethical Principles of the Judiciary in Lesotho” adopted during the Magisterial Conference held last year.

He added that police performance which delayed disposal of criminal trials has vastly improved in the areas where their service is required. However, he indicated that the question of support staff in the shape of interpreters who are crucial for criminal trials to proceed with deliberate speed went from bad to worse as the vacant positions have not yet been filled.

Chief Justice pointed out that due to hindrances such as staff shortage, delay reduction programme in the trial courts takes too long than expected as a result, significant breakthroughs cannot be achieved.

Mr. Lehohla urged the office of the Parliamentary Counsel to work together with that of the Attorney-General to ensure that the Government Printer produces properly bound and indexed copies of statutes as the aim is to maintain their normal annual supply.

He added that the two offices should work hand in hand in order to avoid repetition of the unacceptable experience that characterized the period 1995 to 2005 whereby statutes ranging between those years was only received in March 2006.

'Throughout the ages, the main means of learning events occurring in the judiciary is by way of annual speech delivered at the opening of the High Court's First Session', he said.

'It has however proved inadequate to address the vast area of relevant topics within just 25 minutes', he added, indicating that it has been determined that such information will be covered in an annual report for the past year which will be followed by biannual reports for subsequent years.

At least 1000 criminal trials pending before the High Court have been denounced and only 912 cases registered from 2003 to 2008 have been covered.

According to Mr. Lehohla, a good fraction of the covered cases were disposed off during the past years at the average of 151 per year, while only 91 cases were covered in 2008.