Dibotelo, four judges bury the hatchet
Staff Writer | Friday December 15, 2017 17:28
The bench squabble has been going on for months after Dibotelo demanded an apology from the quartet.
The four Justices namely, Tshepo Motswagole, Godfrey Nthomiwa, Lot Moroka and Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe, stuck to their guns and refused to apologise.
This was after Judicial Service Commission (JSC) wrote to four High Court judges to show cause why a petition they endorsed, which allegedly undermined the authority of the Dibotelo, should not be referred to President Ian Khama.
A referral would possibly have led to Khama setting up a Tribunal into their conduct, in the same manner as the previous Tribunal that was set up in 2015 in the now infamous saga involving four other High Court justices who were suspended in September of that year and only reinstated in March this year.
The judges were Key Dingake, Modiri Letsididi, Mercy Garekwe and Ranier Busang.
The same petition, which resulted in the 2015 suspensions, is the same now at the heart of the latest matter involving Justices Ketlogetswe, Moroka, Nthomiwa and Motswagole.
The petition in question was signed by 12 judges and sent to the JSC questioning the Chief Justice’s leadership style.
While justices Dingake, Letsididi, Garekwe and Busang apologised to Khama and were reinstated, justices Ketlogetswe, Moroka, Nthomiwa and Motswagole have thus far refused to apologise to Dibotelo, and instituted legal battle that they lost.
They then took the matter to the Court of Appeal.
The JSC, through its secretary Michael Motlhabi, had given the four until June 9, 2017 to render their apology to Dibotelo.
On August 29, 2017 Motlhabi yet again wrote to the quartet giving them up to September 15 to show cause why the petition which they endorsed and that which undermined the authority of Dibotelo, should not be referred to Khama.
Today the Administration of Justice released a statement stating that the Judges have withdrawn notorious petition and 'all consequential litigation flowing therefrom'.
The Judges also agreed to pay costs of proceedings before Justice Phadi Solomon as taxed or agreed.
JSC and the Judges now regard the matter as settled.