The humble Justice Leburu

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Friday January 29, 2010 00:00

 

Leburu is one of four judges recently appointed by President Ian Khama on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The four are DrKholisani Solo, the University of Botswana's head of law department, his UB colleague and law lecturer, Dr. Ookeditse Tshosa, Assistant Attorney General, Tshepo Motswagole and Leburu who is currently the Botswana Development Corporation legal services manager. Tshosa and Motswagole have been appointed on a substantive basis while Dr. Solo and Leburu's appointments are acting.

Leburu's peers describe him as one the finest legal brains this country has ever had. Herbert Letsebe is a lecturer at the Institute of Health Sciences (HIS) in Gaborone. He literally runs short of words to describe the man he grew up with in both their home village of Palapye and Gaborone where their parents both worked and lived.

Letsebe views Leburu, whom he affectionately calls Mike 'as a very gifted and intelligent man.'

'We grew up together in both Palapye and Gaborone. He proved his capabilities from a very young age,' says Letsebe about the 42-year-old Leburu.

In their childish arguments and during both their primary and secondary school engagements during their friendly debates, Letsebe says Leburu proved to be far ahead of many of their peers in terms of his reasoning.

After listing all the jobs which Leburu has undertaken, Letsebe has no doubt in his friend's ability to pull off this most recent appointment.

'He has really earned his success. When I learnt about his impending appointment as a judge I really had no doubt that Leburu would acquit himself very well,' he says and adds that it will not be long before Leburu is confirmed in his new job which is effective from February the 1st. Letsebe says his confidence is motivated by the way Leburu has always taken challenges seriously. Above all he says his friend has a serious passion for law. 'I don't think he joins the bench merely for the remuneration package and the perks associated with it, but it is about his passion for law as he has always raised it in our discussions.' For emphasis, Letsebe says in the vernacular,' Mike ga a ka ke a dira sepe a itse gore ga a ka ke a se kgona (He will not venture into anything knowingly unless he will execute himself well in it.)' His former schoolmate at the UB law school, who is now a Gaborone-based attorney in the private practice, Boingotlo Toteng says about Leburu: ' He was a brilliant and very intelligent student during our time at the UB. He is quiet, calm and he listens which shows potential that when he is called upon he can apply these qualities to his advantage.'

More importantly, Toteng stresses that Leburu has proven that he can listen, an attribute that can stand him in good stead as a judge. The managing director of the Botswana-University of Pennsylvania partnership, Dr Zein Kebonang, shares Letsebe's sentiments. When he first joined the law school at the University of Botswana they were given the impression that law was a difficult subject.

'But, there was this record of one Leburu who got a second class upper division or 2(1) in his Bachelors of Laws degree from the University of Botswana (UB) which I envied so much', says Kebonang. They were informed about the young Leburu's outstanding academic abilities in the field of law.

He would later meet Leburu as a colleague at the Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA), where he was employed as general counsel for the authority. Their next meeting was at the Harvard University law school where Leburu was reading for his LLM (Master of Laws), whilst Kebonang was a visiting scholar. Kebonang quickly describes Leburu as a 'first class brain, very humble for a man who has succeeded so well.' He also says inspite of his success Leburu is very modest. He also views Leburu's appointment to the bench as well deserved. He says his learned friend possesses the right brain to become a judge of the High Court.

'He is totally opposite of arrogance. Whenever he puts his pen to paper, he would give a carefully considered view.'

During their stay at the BTA, Kebonang found Leburu to be intelligent as well as a considerate work mate. 'He never behaved with an attitude of: ' I am the director and you do as I say' without considering the views of other people,' says Kebonang who emphasis's that Leburu is especially gifted in the area of law and general administration.

His former schoolmate at Serorome Primary School as well as Moeng College, Dikgang Mogokgwane is full of praise for Leburu. He describes Leburu as a consistently intelligent man.

'Even when we played street football in Palapye, Leburu played intelligently as a striker.He was not just kicking the ball, he juggled the pigskin and easily overcame the opponent for a goal,' says Mogokgwane who wonders why Leburu could not have joined the likes of Brown 'King Goal' Gasemotho in playing football in the major league.

Before early retirement, Gasemotho featured prominently as a striker for the local premier league outfit, Notwane Football Club. From an early age, Mogokgwane says Leburu always had straight A's.  From football, Leburu became a table tennis star at Moeng College. His name would become synonymous with ping-pong as he amassed silverware from the national competitions. He was in a team, which included the likes of Kingsley Baitumetse, Herbert Mereyotlhe and Stephen Khamfore amongst others. Mogokgwane recalls that Leburu was always dressed immaculately at school with a lot of boys wishing to be like him.

'He has always shown the potential of reaching greater heights. His appointment to the bench, is one of those things that he has worked hard for,' concludes Mogokgwane. As attested by his colleagues, Leburu is a highly skilled, qualified lawyer with 16 years experience, a lot of which is in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) regulation. His strength is also in International trade law, corporate and commercial law, including corporate governance, ethics and criminal law and criminal justice system.  He is currently employed by BDC as manager, legal division. He previously worked for the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund as legal services manager and Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA), ICT regulator as general counsel and a former judicial officer (senior magistrate) with the Administration of Justice (Botswana). 

Leburu is married to Lynette, a business development officer at the First National Bank. They are blessed with two sons.