Its over to you CJ

THE interviews of the 18 aspiring judges last week exposed the level of rot in the judiciary. What was supposed to be an opportunity for the judiciary to showcase the best in its ranks turned out to be a mini-inquest that opened a can of worms. Thanks to those public interviews, the public now knows that the judiciary is rotten to the core. Some candidates were accused of all manner of sins, including insubordination, absenteeism, corruption, and fraud. Some are not writing judgments while others allow the prosecution to cut illegal deals with suspects. Others are either unruly or spend more time in bottle stores than in the courts. The Chief Magistrate for the Northern Region, ‘Makampong Mokgoro, who was also interviewed, said magistrates were “uncontrollable and unanswerable to anyone but themselves”. Chief Magistrate ‘Matankiso Nthunya, also a candidate, told the panel that prosecutors are conniving with prison officials to illegally release suspects. She said some court documents have either disappeared or had crucial pages plucked out. Such shenanigans happen under the magistrates’ watch. We are not shocked by these damning and embarrassing revelations. If anything, these are further evidence of decay that we and many other observers have been pointing out for years. Judges and lawyers have said as much. So has the public and politicians. All these points to a dysfunctional court system, too inept to deliver justice. It cannot be restored by merely tinkering with some aspects and purging malcontents. We are talking about a judiciary that is no longer fit for its purpose. A system that cannot be trusted to deliver on its mandate. It is an indictment on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that magistrates who should have been long fired are not only getting back slaps but are also being shortlisted for promotion to the High Court bench. Particularly disconcerting is the fact that none of the magistrates appears to have been censured for these transgressions. Instead of being shipped out, they have been allowed to position critical to the delivery of justice. And judging by their courage to apply for positions on the bench, they fancy themselves as astute jurists who should be in the highest court in the land. It is the JSC’s inaction that has emboldened them to seek higher offices despite the skeletons in their closets. We shudder to think of what other magistrates of dubious reputation, appalling work ethics, and abysmal indiscipline record have been allowed to remain in the courts. What is clear is that, what we heard during the interviews is just a tiny part of the chaos that has been unfolding in the judiciary for years. Justice Sakoane Sakoane’s legacy will not be judged by how well he grilled the candidates but by how swiftly he uses what has been revealed as a starting point of his clean-up of the judiciary. The allegations against the magistrates should be thoroughly investigated and those guilty fired. There should be a wider investigation into the state of the judiciary. The system should be overhauled. The interviews have proven that the Chief Justice is driving a car whose engine has broken. It is his responsibility to get a new engine or fix the old one. We would rather he gets a new one.