Two Supreme Court judges have threatened to resign if a warrant issued
by the Swaziland Chief Justice for the arrest of three High Court judges who
are critical of him is served, a South African newspaper has reported.
Now, the Mail and Guardian reports arrests may take place immediately after the
present Supreme Court session ends on Friday (30 May 2014).
Swaziland’s Chief Justice Michael reportedly
issued the warrants on 16 May 2014, but the Swazi police did not make
the arrests.
The three judges are judges Mumcy Dlamini, Bheki Maphalala and Mbutfo
Mamba.
CJ Ramodibedi denied a report that originally
appeared in the Swazi Observer, a
newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and who appointed the Lesotho-born Ramodibedi
to his office.
In its report, the Observer
said the arrest warrants were issued because the CJ felt the judges were ‘ignoring
his orders and bringing the High Court into disrepute’.
The newspaper reported, ‘According to a reliable source at the High
Court, the Chief Justice alleges that Judge Bheki Maphalala is influencing his
staff members not to take orders from him. Maphalala, according to the source,
is spearheading a High Court rebellion.
The Observer added, ‘Judge
Mamba is alleged to have tried taking over the bail application of The Nation Editor Bheki
Makhubu and Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko.’
After Ramodibedi’s denial of the story, the Observer ran an editorial saying it stood by its report.
The Mail and Guardian reported
an unnamed source saying the execution of the warrants had been delayed ‘because
two foreign judges of the supreme court – Swaziland’s court of appeal – had
threatened an immediate walkout if the arrests took place.
‘The supreme court is in session until May 30, and there are fears that
the arrests could take place immediately after it goes into recess.’
In its original report, the Observer
said Ramodibedi already had replacements lined up to take over from the
arrested judges.
See also
‘CJ ARREST
WARRANTS FOR CRITIC JUDGES’
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