The inquiry into the alleged abuse of power of
Swaziland’s Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi opened on Monday (25 May 2015) and
was postponed to allow him more time to prepare his defence.
Ramodibedi was first issued with a warrant
for his arrest on 17 April 2015. He faced 23 charges and he has been under
self-imposed house arrest since.
He did attend the inquiry set up by the Swazi Judicial
Service Commission and successfully argued he was not ready to go ahead. The
inquiry has been postponed to 3 June 2015.
The original 23 charges have been consolidated into
eight new charges.
1. Abuse of office – In the allocation of the
Swaziland Revenue Authority matter
The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that he allocated his case against SRA to Justice
Mpendulo Simelane in full knowledge that Judge Simelane, in his then capacity
as Registrar of the High Court of Swaziland had made both written and oral
representations to the SRA on behalf of the chief justice in the same matter
and was accordingly conflicted. This the chief justice did unlawfully and with
the intention to obtain a judgement in his favour and or an undue benefit from
the SRA in an amount of E128 800.75
ALTERNATIVELY
The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that he allocated his personal court case against the
Swaziland Revenue Authority to Justice Mpendulo Simelane in full knowledge that
Judge Simelane in his then capacity as Registrar of the High Court had made
oral and written representations to the Swaziland Revenue Authority on behalf
of the chief justice in the same matter prior to the institution of the court
proceedings. By doing so the CJ eroded the confidence of the public.
2. Abuse of office – In the hearing of the
Impunzi Wholesalers (PTY) Ltd v The Swaziland Revenue Authority
The Chief Justice Michael Mathelira Ramodibedi is
guilty of serious misbehaviour in that he undermined the confidence of the
public in the country’s justice system by sitting as the presiding Judge in the
appeal of Impunzi Wholesalers (Pty) Ltd v Swaziland Revenue Authority at a time
when he was personally engaged in pending litigation against SRA and as such
was conflicted.
3. Abuse of office in order to achieve an
ulterior motive – In the hearing of the Estate Policy matter.
The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that contrary to the integrity expected of a judicial
officer he directed that the application of Wezzy Ndzimandze and Others v
Titselo Ndzimandze and others (Estate Policy Case) be heard and proceed to
3.1 Frame the issues for determination by the court
3.2 Personally enrolled the application when the
applicants had withdrawn the matter
3.3 Insisted on the application proceeding in
circumstances where the applicant’s attorney had withdrawn as attorneys of record
3.4 Manipulated the outcome of the matter by giving
instructions to the presiding judges
This demonstrated vested interest in the outcome of
the matter in order to achieve an ulterior motive and constituted serious
misbehaviour.
ALTERNATIVELY
The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that he unlawfully directed the application of Wezzy
Ndzimandze and others v Titselo Ndzimandze and Others (Estate Policy case) be
heard well aware that this was contrary to Constitutional provision S34 (2)
which required that such matters be dealt with through the promulgation of a
legislation in order to achieve an ulterior motive.
4. The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is
guilty of serious misbehaviour in that on or about the year 2014 in his
capacity as Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission he advised on and or
authorised the reappointment of Lillian Zwane, Deputy Commissioner Operations
of the Anti Corruption Commission for a third term in breach of the Prevention
of Corruption Act of 2006 which provides for a maximum of two terms in respect
of that position.
5. The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that on or about the year 2014 he unlawfully obstructed
investigations by the ACC into allegations of misconduct of Lillian Zwane, the
Deputy Commissioner of the ACC by failing and or neglecting and or refusing to
take action on a report filed by the commissioner of the ACC.
6. The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that on diverse occasions he instructed his government
appointed chauffer to drive him out of the country when the driver, contrary to
Cabinet Circular No1/2009 and government policy on external travel had not been
authorised by the head of government to leave Swaziland and further caused his
chauffer and security officers to incur or claim travel and subsistence
allowances in respect of trips not authorised by government contrary to the
said circular and policy.
7. The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is guilty of
serious misbehaviour in that on or about January 2015 and contrary to the
integrity expected of a judicial officer and in contravention of the Government
Stores Regulations he travelled to the Republic of South Africa in a Swaziland
government issued motor vehicle without his designated chauffer.
8. The Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is
guilty of serious misbehaviour in that on about August 2014 contrary to the
integrity expected of a judicial officer and in breach of the principle of the
independence of the Judiciary he unlawfully directed Acting High Court Justices
Dlamini B.S. Dlamini A AND Simelane M to decide the matter wherein the Law
Society of Swaziland sought the removal from office of Justice Mpendulo
Simelane in favour of the Swaziland Government.
See
also
CJ
HAS HISTORY OF ABUSE OF POWER
SWAZI
JUDICIAL CRISIS: KING’S WORD IS LAW
JURISTS:
DEEP FLAWS IN JUSTICE SYSTEM
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