Govt defers high tech use in courts

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Wednesday March 10, 2010 00:00

 

The government has rescinded its decision to introduce digital court recordings and video conferencing in the local courts of law. The reforms, to improve the speed of justice dispensation, were earmarked for implementation in the 2009/10 budget.

However, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Dikgakgamatso Seretse on Monday told parliament that due to budget constraints such reforms cannot be implemented.

He told the house that the recent economic downturn has had an adverse impact on the ability of the judiciary to deliver on its plans. 'The cut in the recurrent and the development budget by 7 percent and 5 percent respectively resulted in the scaling down of the projects and programmes,' Seretse said. He told parliament that a total of P190, 728,068 was approved for the 2009/10 financial year.

Last year, Seretse raised the hopes of Batswana when he told parliament that Botswana courts would soon go high-tech. The new technology was to allow cases to be heard via video conferencing and give members of the public and lawyers access to court records at the click of a mouse.  However, this undertaking went up in smoke this week when Seretse told parliament that financial constraints, emanating from the current economic recession, have forced them to defer the projects.

Other projects that are going to feel the effects of the recession are the refurbishment of the Old Legislature House, refurbishment of Chief Justice's old house, improvements to the library and landscaping of judges houses, which were earmarked to start in the financial year 2009/10. Seretse added that projects planned for NDP 10 like provision of prefabricated court structures in places like Gumare, Tutume, Hukuntsi, and Machaneng have also been deferred indefinately.

'These projects, madam chairperson, remain critical in our efforts to take justice close to the people and reduce distance litigants and other court users have to travel to the nearest court center,' Seretse said.

He added that a total of P127, 668,428 has been spent on the projects. He also told parliament that Gaborone High Court division and Court of Appeal is currently 19 percent complete. During the last financial year, the government put aside P80 million for the construction of the High Court and a Court of Appeal in Gaborone.