President Ian Khama, Speaker of the National Assembly and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) got a slap on the face on Thursday when Lobatse High Court judge Abednigo Tafa dismissed their application to suspend the execution of orders he recently issued nullifying the appointment of Court of Appeal judges. Beyond ordering that the current practice of Khama appointing judges of appeal is unconstitutional, Justice Tafa further declared invalid and nullified the extension or renewal of three-year contracts for the appeal judges. He then suspended the order nullifying section 4 of the CoA Act for six months to give relevant authorities an opportunity to regularise the situation. Khama & Co then rushed to court on urgency, seeking the suspension of Justice Tafa's orders to allow the Court of Appeal to continue to operate in the public interest, pending an appeal of the judgment. Through acting Attorney General Morulaganyi Chamme, they argued that there are two constitutional matters currently pending before CoA and if the orders are not suspended the appeal judges cannot sign and deliver the judgments, to the prejudice of the litigants and the public. In addition, the CoA session scheduled to start on February 17 has been postponed, they…