It was the Judicial Commissioner’s Court

MASERU – THE President of the Judicial Officers Association of Lesotho (JOALE), magistrate Masupha Kao, says it was the Judicial Commissioner’s Court that was given M36 000 and not the magistracy.Last week thepost said the magistracy had been given the money, which was a mistake.
Magistrate Kao says that amount is however still not enough to cover the basics for the Judicial Commissioner’s Court.

Kao added that the Chief Magistrate ’Matankiso Nthunya was also not complaining that the Court of Appeal had been given M1.9 million.
He said Nthunya instead was thanking the government for that although she insisted that all other courts, which shoulder the bulk of cases countrywide, should be given the same treatment.
Kao said most cases that reach the Court of Appeal are of people who can afford to hire lawyers while the Local, Central, Judicial Commissioner and magistrate’s courts serve the country’s poor people.

“Failure to fund operations of these subordinate courts hits hard on the poor people who depend on them for resolution of their disputes,” he said.
“At present, the magistrate’s court is not functioning because there is no stationery and people are unable to register their cases.”
Kao also said judicial officers have been complaining about the poor working conditions since 2005.
“In fact, our seniors told us that the working conditions deteriorated in the 1980s and they were already officially complaining to the authorities in those years,” he said.
“This fight is not new at all.”
Lastly, he said the Acting Chief Justice ’Maseforo Mahase is on their side in the struggle and “she does her utmost to ensure that our needs are met”.

Staff Reporter