THE former Chief Executive Officer of the Lesotho Communication's Authority (LCA), Advocate Mamarame Matela who is being sued by the authority will have her day in court on November 25 when the case against her proceeds.

The matter was postponed last week after the respondent filed an appeal against a decision by the High Court.

The court had earlier dismissed an application by the respondent who had argued that the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The arguments on jurisdiction were made after the same court heard and dismissed an application for recusal of the judge who presided over the case.

Matela wanted the presiding judge to recuse himself from the case on the grounds that he might be bias in dealing with the matter.
She had argued that owing to a personal relationship her family and the judge’s had, coupled with their respective professional relationship, the judge might not be able to bring an impartial mind in the case.
She said during her tenure of office at the LCA, the authority fined Vodacom Lesotho M8.5 million for non-compliance.

At the time, she said, the judge’s wife acted as a legal advisor to Vodacom.

She had also shown that legal advisors are among others mandated to ensure that the companies they present do not incur unnecessary costs.
She had argued that the judge’s wife might have discussed the matter with her husband out of frustration and fear of a disciplinary action being taken against her, as a result, a reasonable person might form an opinion that the judge might be bias in the case.
In his submission, Attorney Qhalehang Letsika for the LCA argued that Matela had not established evidence that the judge was likely to be partial adding that her allegations were baseless.