A raft of appointments of judges to Swaziland’s Supreme Court has raised
questions about nepotism in the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch, King Mswati
III.
Even one of the
newspapers in Swaziland that he in effect owns has raised doubts about the
wisdom of appointing judges who are related to one another.
And, the Swazi
Attorney-General Majahenkhaba
Dlamini
has been appointed a temporary Supreme Court judge for the month of July
2015, raising questions about the independence from government of the
judiciary.
On Friday (26 June 2015),
seven acting judges to the Supreme Court were announced, which the Sunday Observer newspaper reported, ‘resulted in the kingdom’s judiciary turning into a
close knit family affair of spouses and siblings’.
The newspaper reported, ‘Newly-appointed
Judge of the Supreme Court Majahenkhaba Dlamini joins his wife High Court Judge
Mumcy Dlamini as members of the judiciary.
‘Former High Court Judge
Qinisile Mabuza and her brother Sipho Nkosi have both been appointed Judges of
the Supreme Court – the latter’s appointment is on an acting basis while the
former’s is permanent.
‘There is also High Court
Judge Nkululeko Hlophe whose wife is Supreme Court Registrar and Judicial Service
Commission (JSC) Secretary Lorraine Hlophe.
‘With Majahenkhaba and
his wife Judge Mumcy, questions have been raised on what would happen should
the former, in his capacity as acting Supreme Court Judge, find himself having
to review cases that were decided by the latter at the High Court.
‘There are suggestions
that there are strong possibilities of this scenario coming true.’
There are also concerns
that some of the new judges might not be suitably qualified.
The Observer reported, ‘A senior judicial expert who spoke to the Sunday Observer, though stating clearly
not being opposed to the appointments, was worried that Acting Judges Nkosi and
Cloete were appointed straight to the Supreme Court without any experience of
presiding in the lower courts, especially the High Court.
‘“There is a lot that
they need to learn, which they can do by presiding at the High Court before
they are elevated to the Supreme Court,” said the expert.’
The
appointment of Attorney-General Majahenkhaba Dlamini to the Supreme Court for one month has raised
doubts about King Mswati’s commitment to the separation of powers between the
legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
Dlamini
is a member of the Swazi Government that was hand-picked by King Mswati, an
ex-official member of the House of Assembly and now a judge. That gives him a
place in all three branches of government.
• Acting Chief Justice
Bheki Maphalala
• Dr. Ben Odoki JA
• Justice Stanley
Maphalala JA
• Justice Jacobus
Annandale JA
• Justice Qinisile Mabuza
JA
• Justice Mbutfo Mamba JA
• AG Majahenkhaba Dlamini
JA
• Lawyer Robert Cloete
AJA
• Lawyer Sipho Nkosi AJA
No comments:
Post a Comment