Dingake: Humble African legal giant
Friday, December 06, 2019

Everyone's Judge: Dingake,a former Judge of the high court of Botswana and now with the Supreme and National Courts of Papua New Guinea
The books are: In Pursuit of Justice, Judges, and Towards A People’s Constitution for Botswana. Chief Justice Salika, Chief Justice of the Supreme and National Courts of PNG and Professor Crawford, Dean of Law at James Cook University, in Australia and Emeritus Professor of Law, Yash, Ghai, University of Hongkong, reviewed the books.
Recently I bought my own copies at Exclusive Books, OR International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. The most recent review of his latest book: Towards A People’s Constitution for Botswana, with a foreword by Professor Emeritus Yash Ghai, one of the foremost Kenyan scholars in Constitutional Law, and former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, in Cambodia on Human Rights, inspired my article.
While every citizen, including the Head of State, has the right to voice opinions, the tone and context of the President’s comments were regrettably dismissive and risk chilling free expression in our country. The remarks are not isolated. They form part of a disturbing pattern of public attacks on independent institutions pillars essential to the healthy functioning of our democracy. The Judiciary, the Legislature, and now the media have all...