Chinese Woman 3 Hours Late for Court Appearance
  Disparaging tardiness as being on African time has become one of the clichés of the English language, but a Chinese woman took it to the extreme recently when, supposed to appear before the Maseru Magistrate's Court on a charge of working in the country without a permit, the woman was three hours late.

Magistrate Mr. Manyathela Kolobe raised his displeasure with the woman, Li Hui Yuan, and said he viewed the act as disrespectful of the court. Expected in court at eight 'o clock in the morning, Li only showed up at about 11:30 am.

The court will not tolerate such behaviour, particularly when there is no clear explanation why the accused had behaved in that manner, the magistrate said.

Counsel for the accused, Advocate Thabo Mohaleroe was also concerned about the tardiness although he asked that the matter be dealt with later during the week, when an interpreter to translate the court proceedings into Chinese would be present, since the accused cannot understand either Sesotho or English.

The accused is standing trial for allegedly contravening the Labour Code of 1992 by working in the country without a work permit.

08 February 2005   

  source: LENA