The three judges according to Nganunu are Isaac Lesetedi, former Attorney General and now judge of the high court Ian Kirby and Chief Justice Julian Nganunu himself.
Under the new system of Judicial case management which is supposed to be an impersonal system cases are understandably allocated to judges as they are registered.
The case was under this system given to Judge Dingake but was yesterday taken out of his chambers and it is now to be tried by the trio. There have been suggestions that Dingake has been pushed out of the case with some even suggesting that a representation was made to the High Court suggesting that the case be given to a panel than an individual because the stakes in this case are too high.
When asked whether Dingake was pushed Nthomiwa said he did not know the reason why the case was moved from Dingake to a panel of three judges.
“I do not think he was pushed. What I do know is that the Chief Justice exercised his powers under section six of the High Court act and allocated the case to a panel of judges,” Nthomiwa said.
This will not be the first controversy after a case has been removed from one judge to another. One case that immediately springs to mind is the case of Professor Keneth Good who challenged his deportation. The case was initially before Former High Court Judge Modiri Marumo but it was subsequently shunted out of his chambers under what was considered dubious circumstances. In fact, some even say this was one reason why Judge Marumo had to quit the bench.
At the time of going to press Parks Tafa of Collins Newman told Mmegi that they understand that the case is now before a panel of judges but they do not know who they are as they have been busy finalizing their answering affidavits.
Speaking for the applicants Sidney Pilane said they want to know why the case was moved from Dingake to a panel of three judges. ” We want to know why this was done,” Pilane said.
“We understand that the High Court has a computer system which allocated the case to Dingake. If the case had to be heard by a panel why is Dingake not one of them because the computer had picked him?”
Asked whether they are content with the panel allocated the case Pilane said they have concerns with one of the three judges although he did not say which of the three.
He said, however, they were still mulling over whether they should do something about their concern.
Mmegi understands from other sources that the inclusion of judge Ian Kirby in this case gives the applicants some severe palpitations. They say in hushed tones that they consider judge Kirby to be too close to Khama.
In fact, some in Barata-Phathi camp say because of this uneasiness they want to impress upon their legal team to apply for Kirby’s recusal, not because they do not trust his impartiality, but just because of the perception that he is a friend of one of the parties.
In this case Motswaledi wants the High Court to set aside his suspension by Khama and to stop the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from holding a new primary election in Gaborone Central, where he has been recalled as a parliamentary suspension. He also wants to prevent Khama and the BDP from taking any steps to approve anyone, apart from him as a candidate for the constituency.
Mmegi Online
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