Chief Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe shed tears at the official opening of the 2025 Legal Year this week as he reflected on the harrowing experiences that shaped his life.
Taking to the podium, the recently appointed Chief Justice gave an account of his journey- from a near-death experience as an infant to surviving an attempted ritual killing and later navigating the challenges of legal and political activism.
Recounting his childhood struggles, Ketlogetswe revealed that as an infant, he was nearly swept away by the raging Motloutse River, only to be saved by tree branches fencing his family’s compound.
Years later, as a primary school pupil, he narrowly escaped a ritual killing plot.
A teacher had hidden him in a car and driven through the village, planning to use him for a human sacrifice.
“The people he greeted whilst I was hidden in the vehicle would have testified that he was not linked to the crime, because they never saw me in his car and rightly so. He would have been acquitted,” he said.
Ketlogetswe’s trials didn’t end in childhood. As a University of Botswana student in 1994, he was put on trial for inciting riots during protests over the ritual killing of Segametsi Mogomotsi in Mochudi.
However, it was later in his career as a judge that he was presiding over a case involving former minister Dr Thapelo Matsheka who was accused of involvement in a ritual murder that he knew that his past experiences should not in anyway influence his decision making.
He granted bail to Dr Matsheka amid interference by his superiors in the judiciary and political arena.
To this day, Dr Matsheka has never been charged with the offence for which he was in police custody for eight days, and is suing the Government for close to P20 million for damages.
The Chief Justice said that he has been on trial for inciting University of Botswana students to riot during the 1994 demonstrations against the ritual killing of Segametsi Mogomotsi in Mochudi.
He said all these events prepared him for the position he got appointed to two weeks ago, adding that he can relate with what poor and underprivileged people go through in the day to day life, as well as when they are faced with litigation.
Coming to business, Ketlogetswe said that the judiciary is faced with a mirage of challenges from shortage of manpower, shortage of resources, outdated equipment and technology, and fading public confidence.
He said some of the new solutions include that judges should fight the backlog of cases and issue their pending judgments before end of March.
The establishment of a High Court in the Mahalapye, Palapye area is in their plans, as well as construction of new magistrates’ courts in Tswapong, Gantsi and Tutume.
The Administration of Justice also intends to re-employ retired court reporters on contracts to help in administration of cases from Magistrates’ courts to the Court of Appeal.
He said that the AoJ is going to address the complaints by the Law Society of Botswana that led to their boycott of the 2024 official opening of the legal year, adding that every individual officer of the court must work towards restoring public confidence in the judicial system.
