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Makhulu Baas gets E478 000 Mercedes Benz in Lesotho

06/01/2012 00:00:00 WELCOME DLAMINI

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STORIES BY WELCOME DLAMINI

MBABANE – The Lesotho Government has reportedly given Swaziland’s Chief Justice, Michael Mathealira Ramodibedi, a brand new luxury vehicle.

Ramodibedi, a Lesotho national who also serves as Lesotho’s Court of Appeal President, has been allocated a Mercedes Benz 2010 E200 model worth E478 000.

It is said this is the first time that a Lesotho Court of Appeal President has been allocated an official vehicle since Ramodibedi’s predecessors have always used rented vehicles.

According to a Lesotho newspaper, the Sunday Express, quoting Finance Minister Timothy Thahane, Ramodibedi’s predecessors were not allocated official vehicles because ‘they were not staying in Lesotho.’

However, Ramodibedi is also not resident in Lesotho but in Swaziland, where he is the full-time Chief Justice. He lives at the five-star Royal Villas Resort at government’s expense.

Ramodibedi is reported to have been using a rented car when in Lesotho.

The new vehicle brings the number of Ramodibedi’s official vehicles to three; two in Swaziland and one in Lesotho.

In Swaziland, Ramodibedi, also referred to locally by his self-anointed nickname, Makhulu Baas, has a BMW 750i and a Mercedes Benz for his official vehicles.

There have been complaints that Ramodibedi has been using one of these two vehicles to travel to Lesotho, either to visit or to conduct his duties as Lesotho’s Court of Appeal President.

The Law Society of Swaziland, during the lawyers’ boycott last year, complained of Ramodibedi having two vehicles as they alleged that his conditions of service entitled him to one car.

The lawyers also complained that the Chief Justice used one of the vehicles on unauthorised trips to South Africa.

Depending on the manufacturer, Ramodibedi’s vehicle in Lesotho is expected to be delivered in the ‘next two to three months’, the Sunday Express reported.

The vehicle is expected to be delivered with five others which will be allocated to High Court judges. Four other judges already have had their Mercedes Benz’ delivered by Avis Fleet Services after the Lesotho Government paid an estimated E4 780 000 to buy 10 vehicles to ease the judges’ transport woes.

Meanwhile, there is still uncertainty regarding Ramodibedi’s stay in the CJ’s position in Swaziland because a local Chief Justice is supposed to be appointed this year.

This is in accordance with the country’s Constitution which stipulates that a Swazi CJ has to be appointed into office five years after its promulgation.

Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, during a breakfast meeting with the Editors Forum in November, failed to come out clear on the future of Ramodibedi.

All he could say was that the next Chief Justice would be decided by the appointing authority, His Majesty King Mswati III.

Ramodibedi is largely blamed for the dismissal of High Court judge Justice Thomas Masuku who had faced 12 charges.

Masuku was fired in September.

...Ramodibedi says no comment

MBABANE – Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi refused to entertain questions from the Times of Swaziland when contacted yesterday.

The CJ, in a brief interview, said the Times had embarked on a campaign to tarnish his image and therefore could not speak to the publication.

"The Times went on a campaign against me so there is no way I can speak to you, thank you," he said before hanging up.

Registrar of the Supreme Court Lorraine Hlophe could also not comment on the matter as she referred questions to Ramodibedi.

"He (Ramodibedi) is the one who is better placed to respond to this. This issue is not mine to address as it is between him and his employers, the Judicial Service Commission, who know his conditions of service," Hlophe said.

The Times has however been reporting on public incidents within the country as they had been unfolding from the time the judicial crisis began including the lawyers boycott of the courts.