We’ll boycott courts until we get paid: lawyers

MASERU – Defence lawyers representing some soldiers who are charged with various crimes say they will not appear in court unless the government coughs up.

The lawyers told thepost yesterday that they are not happy that the government was paying huge amounts of money to prosecutors while they had been promised paltry amounts.

What has however incensed them more is the fact that the government has not even paid them those smaller amounts.

The lawyers say they will not appear in court until they are paid.

The soldiers are being charged with the murder of former army commander, Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao, and the killing of three men whose bodies were later dumped in Mohale Dam.

The arrangement was that the defence lawyers would be paid a fee of M1 500 every time they appeared in court.

Advocate Kabelo Letuka has two pro deo cases where he is representing a soldier in the Mahao murder case and the Mohale Dam case respectively.

He also charges M1 500 to prepare a case before court. Advocate Letuka has so far appeared in court 41 times. His fees for appearance and preparation of the case could get to a staggering M63 000.

However, Advocate Letuka could not confirm the exact amounts he is owed.

“I cannot participate in the proceedings any further unless and until the office of the registrar has given a commitment that the pro deo fees that I have been promised will be paid,” he said.

Meanwhile, Advocate Napo Mafaesa said he is struggling to pay rent and other bills because the government owes him.

Advocate Mafaesa is representing four soldiers in the Mahao murder case, two in the Mohale Dam, one in a treason case and two in bombings at Moshoeshoe II which happened in 2014.

Advocate Mafaesa declined to reveal how much he is owed.

Advocate Letuka Molati, who is appearing for former army boss Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli, said the government pays about M40 000 to the two prosecution lawyers, Advocates Abrahams and Motene Rafoneke, while a defence lawyer is paid a paltry M1 500 per appearance.

thepost understands that the government could be coughing about M1.1 million in 30 days to pay the two prosecutors.

Advocate Abrahams, thepost has learnt, is paid M25 000 per day while Advocate Rafoneke is paid M13 000.

Advocate Molati said they were appointed on pro deo, meaning the government was going to pay for the accused’s legal bills.

He said for every 30 days he appears for an accused, he is entitled to be paid M45 000 while the government pays more than one million maloti to the prosecution team.

“I can’t break down the figure to a daily fee as it is a closely guarded information,” he said.

The cases still need at least 300 days in court and this means they might be completed in 2025.

In the event of the cases going beyond 2025, the government would still need to pay prosecutors M30 million on top of the M10 million that has already been paid to the prosecution team.

“We have had more than two incidents where cases could not proceed because the prosecution was owed legal fees,” he said.

“The prosecution has so far been paid more than M10 million. The defence lawyers have been paid zero maloti.”

Advocate Molati said because the court had allowed the prosecution to stop the cases from proceeding when the prosecution team had not been paid, “I am adopting a similar strategy”.

“I won’t show up in court unless I have been paid,” he said.

He cites the constitutional right to equality which is “do unto the defense lawyer(s) what you did to the prosecution lawyer(s)”.

“Yes the cases might be in limbo until such time that the defence lawyers have been paid.”

He says he is willing to suffer the indignity of being paid for a month’s work what prosecutors earn in one day “but I am not willing to suffer the indignity of having to beg for the paltry pro deo fees to be released”.

“Otherwise I will be becoming irresponsible by being complicit in a grave constitutional rights violation escapade,” he said.

The greatest tragedy in this whole affair, he said, is that only prosecutors and judges were catered for “while defence lawyers were intentionally excluded”.

Majara Molupe