The LSB chairperson Tshekiso Tshekiso spoke on the arrest of public officers such as Isaac Kgosi saying it would be really 'unfortunate' if the arrests were politically motivated. In an interview with this publication following his open letter to the Chief Justice that touched on many issues affecting the judiciary, Tshekiso said though they have no basis to talk about the arrests or origin of charges, still the rule of law should be applied. “It would be very unfortunate if the charges are politically motivated.
We have no basis to speak of the origin of the charges, however. Our interest is to see the rule of law upheld and prevail, regardless of who the subject of prosecution or investigation is,” he said. Quizzed if he felt judicial officers were not independent as seemly implied in his letter, the chairperson explained that it was not their suggestion that judicial officers are not independent but that there are indicators that feed into the suspicion by members of the legal fraternity and the public. He pointed out that the image of the judiciary and public confidence in it is dependent on the perception the public has about the judiciary. “We are concerned that there have been occurrences, which unless taken care of, would lead to a total loss of public confidence in the judiciary,” Tshekiso said.
