Goodbye Nganunu, Welcome Dibotelo

| Wednesday February 3, 2010 00:00

Not a long time ago this newspaper called on Nganunu to quit his post. This was after he allegedly tried to get a Broadhurst Magistrate to release from custody Nganunu's nephew who was convicted by the Magistrate court for failure to pay a maintenance fine imposed by the court. In our view, Nganunu's action then amounted to over-extending his influence. We believe Nganunu should have done the honourable thing then and resigned. His lapse of judgment attracted bad publicity for the judiciary and in the process brought the judiciary into disrepute.

Nganunu did not heed our call to resign. We screamed out loud nonetheless and we made our point. Unto this day we believe Nganunu should have long resigned from his post. This time Nganunu is leaving on account of ill health. We believe he is taking the doctors' orders, perhaps we should have ordered him too, the best thing to do is to take a break and recuperate away from the pressures of the bench. We salute him for being considerate to his health and to the efficient delivery of justice. Others would have stubbornly refused any other good counsel and opted to stay in office. We wish the Chief Justice a speedy recovery. By choosing to retire as he did he has earned himself the respect of many. There is no doubt that Nganunu has been a tireless servant and his track record speaks volumes. He has brought many innovations to the bench, top amongst them, we understand is the Judicial Case Management, which every judicial officer sings praise of. This is a legacy that posterity will always ascribe to Chief Justice Nganunu. Other innovations such as the creation of Family, Stock theft, Small Claims and Traffic Court are achievements that Nganunu's tenure has produced. As he looks back with satisfaction at some of the great things that he championed, Nganunu should also take the flak for the lack of progressive judgments emanating from the one dimensional judiciary. It would appear that there is fear amongst the bench to engage head on, issues of constitutionality and purposive human rights approach, in our courts. The courts judgments are predictable as most are of a conservative mould. These judgments and perspectives fail to take the diverse and plural society that we live in. The Chief Justice failed during his tenure to deliberately go out to woo respected and erudite legal minds in the mould of George Bizos, Pius Langa, Gyeke Dako and others who could have added vitality and width to our jurisprudence. In our view even the Court of Appeal is just another conservative arm of the High Court. More of the same. During Nganunu's tenure he failed to transform the bench into a polemical diverse group of legal minds. We wish to welcome incoming Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo and wish him success in this all-important position. We implore him to strive for independence of the judiciary while ensuring that the judiciary is fearless, fair and prompt.

                                                                       Today's thought

'Lay bare these wounds of our Constitution, expose the decisions seriatim, and arouse, as it is able, the attention of the nation to these bold speculators on its patience.'

                                                -Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Ritchie,