LSB presses ahead with bar exams as GUC appeals
Spira Tlhankane | Monday September 28, 2026 06:00
The Society has announced that the examinations will be held from October 26 to 30, 2026, following the judgment of the High Court in the matter between Arnold Rapula Somolekae and Others, and the LSB. The legal battle had halted the commencement of the examinations. LSB’s announcement comes as the GUC graduates, led by Somolekae, pursue an appeal against Justice Godfrey Nthomiwa’s September 1, 2026 judgment. The ruling by the judge has dismissed the graduates’ application challenging the LSB’s decision to bar them from sitting for the examinations.
On May 29, the LSB rejected the graduates’ application saying that after considering the documentation submitted, including the graduates’ degree certificates and transcripts, the Society was not satisfied that they had obtained, by examination conducted by the issuing university, a qualifying law degree from a prescribed university. The GUC graduates’ appeal puts the controversy back before the courts. It comes at a time when the dispute has evolved from a fight over 21 examination places into a wider legal battle over who controls entry into Botswana’s legal profession, the limits of the Law Society’s regulatory powers and the status of the Leeds Beckett University-GUC law programme. Under the new LSB examination notice, candidates will sit for seven papers namely, Accounting for Lawyers, Administration of Estates, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Ethics, Conveyancing and Notarial Practice. The LSB has stated that only candidates who registered in April 2026 and are eligible to sit for the examinations in terms of the Legal Practitioners Act will be allowed to write. The Society has also cautioned prospective candidates that passing the examinations does not automatically guarantee admission as legal practitioners, as candidates must satisfy other statutory requirements.
The announcement effectively puts the examination process back on track while the GUC graduates’ challenge remains before the country’s apex court. In their appeal papers, the graduates are asking the CoA to overturn the High Court’s orders and declare the LSB’s May 29 decision unlawful, irrational, unreasonable and procedurally unfair. They also want the Society directed to register them for the postponed June 2026 Bar Examinations. At the heart of the appeal is the graduates’ contention that the High Court failed to properly determine whether the LSB had acted within the powers granted to it by the Legal Practitioners Act.
The graduates argue that the Society imposed requirements not found in the Legal Practitioners Act or applicable regulations and acted beyond its statutory mandate. They further contend that the LSB “acted irrationally and inconsistently in refusing the Appellants’ applications to sit for the Bar Exams”.
Another major fault line is the Botswana Qualifications Authority’s (BQA) statutory audit report, which featured prominently in the High Court proceedings. The graduates argue that the audit report was not relevant to the legality of the LSB’s May 29 decision and accuse the High Court of allowing the issue to become a basis for avoiding determination of the substantive review application.
“The alleged adverse information was never disclosed to the appellants before the impugned decision was taken; the appellants were not invited to make representations or provide further information; and no hearing was afforded to the Appellants,” they stated in their appeal papers. The graduates further argue that allowing the audit report to become central to the case could enable the LSB to reconstruct its reasons after the decision had already been made.
“Permitting the respondent to make the audit report and its contents an issue relevant to the review would allow the respondent to supplement and/or reconstruct the reasons and/or provide an ex post facto justification for the decision communicated to the appellants on 29 May 2026,” the graduates contended.
The graduates are also challenging the High Court’s finding that the dispute surrounding the existence and contents of the BQA audit report could not properly be resolved through affidavit evidence. They argue that even if a material dispute of fact existed, the High Court should not have simply dismissed their review application. Instead, they contend that the court could have applied the Plascon-Evans rule or referred narrowly defined factual disputes to oral evidence or trial.
Their principal relief is for the CoA to uphold the appeal, set aside the High Court’s orders and declare the LSB’s May 29 decision unlawful, irrational, unreasonable and procedurally unfair. The graduates want the matter reviewed and set aside and the LSB ordered to “forthwith register the Applicants and permit them to sit the postponed June 2026 Bar Examinations”.
Alternatively, they want the matter remitted for urgent determination before another judge, with the disputed factual issues determined through viva voce evidence. For now, however, the LSB has gone ahead with preparations for the October examinations. The unfolding situation leaves the Bar examination process moving forward while the legal challenge over the exclusion of the 21 GUC graduates remains before the CoA.