…as Court of Appeal grants Adv Chalatse leave to review 2022 judgment
Hopolang Mokhopi
THE Court of Appeal has granted Senior Judicial Commissioner, Advocate Rabuka Chalatse, leave to review its 2022 judgment that rejected his bid to have his remuneration upgraded from Grade J to Grade K.
The ruling, delivered on 7 September 2026 by President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Kananelo Mosito, clears the way for Adv Chalatse to challenge the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Minister of Public Service and Others v Rabuka Chalatse, C of A (CIV) No. 48/2022.
Adv Chalatse, who presides over the Judicial Commissioners’ Court, had previously argued that he was entitled to Grade K under the Judiciary’s revised remuneration structure, which the Ministry of Public Service had directed to be implemented in February 2017. The earlier proceedings culminated in a Court of Appeal judgment that overturned a High Court order in his favour.
In granting leave, Justice Mosito found that Adv Chalatse had met the exceptional threshold required for the Court of Appeal to reconsider one of its own final judgments.
The President stressed that the jurisdiction is not a disguised appeal, but a special and corrective power that may be exercised where a fundamental and basic error has inadvertently occurred.
“The jurisdiction is special and corrective, not appellate, and may be invoked where a fundamental and basic error has inadvertently occurred,” Justice Mosito said.
At the centre of the review is whether the Court of Appeal was given an incorrect factual impression in 2022 that the revised Judiciary structure had not been implemented.
Adv Chalatse had argued in his original petition that the court was not made aware of an affidavit deposed to by the Registrar of the High Court, Advocate ‘Mathato Sekoai, in 2021, in which she confirmed that the approved structure had already been implemented.
The affidavit was filed in separate proceedings involving judicial officers who had approached the High Court to enforce the same structure. According to Adv Chalatse, the disclosure is significant because the Court of Appeal subsequently relied on the position that the structure had not been implemented when it ruled against him.
Justice Mosito found that, if established, the alleged non-disclosure of material that was already in existence could raise issues extending beyond the correctness of the 2022 judgment to the integrity of the adjudicative process itself.
“Where a court determines a dispute upon a material factual foundation while directly inconsistent material already in existence is not disclosed, the complaint may concern the reliability, fairness, and integrity of the adjudicative process,” Justice Mosito stated.
The Court also considered Practice Directive No. 1 of 2026. Although Adv Chalatse’s petition was filed before the directive came into operation, Justice Mosito found it just and convenient to apply it, noting that the directive regulates procedure rather than creating new jurisdiction.
The Court consequently ordered that leave be granted to review the 11 November 2022 judgment and directed that the petition and founding papers be served on the five respondents within 10 court days.
The respondents — the Minister of Public Service, Principal Secretary of Public Service, Registrar of the High Court, Principal Secretary of Finance and the Attorney General — have 10 court days thereafter to file opposing affidavits, while Adv Chalatse will have five court days to reply.
The substantive review will then be set down by the President of the Court of Appeal.
Adv Chalatse’s prayers for an immediate declaration that he is entitled to Grade K and payment of salary arrears have been deferred pending the substantive review. Costs were reserved.
The dispute arose after Adv Chalatse, who was appointed on Grade J in April 2018, argued that he should have been placed on Grade K under the revised structure. He had initially succeeded in the High Court before the respondents appealed and the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour.
He is seeking, among other relief, reinstatement of the Grade K entitlement and payment of salary arrears dating back to his April 2018 appointment.
