Times Of Swaziland: CJ, MEDIA FINGERED IN ACC PROBLEMS CJ, MEDIA FINGERED IN ACC PROBLEMS ================================================================================ By Thembinkhsi Mavimbela on 01/07/2018 08:56:00 EZULWINI – An official of the Anti-Corruption Commission has given the impression that Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala allegedly blocked the arrest of a Cabinet minister. The commission’s Mluleki Dlamini ignited this feeling among those attending the Anti-Corruption Seminar at the Royal Villas on Friday when he was explaining that they were in a tough arena but they were trying to do the best they could. “Several people have been arrested by the ACC under the hand of the current sitting chief justice (CJ) up until we asked for a warrant to arrest a sitting minister, then he said our law has problems,” Dlamini said. Dlamini did not mention the name of the minister or what he was to be arrested for but stated that all along the law was ok up until now. He said like any other organisation, the ACC also had challenges. Dlamini revealed that there was lack of public discourse towards the fight against corruption. He explained that this meant that there was too much tolerance for corruption and added that people respected corrupt people. He also said there was complexity of cases where inexperienced investigators pitted against influential members of the society who had unlimited access to the media. Dlamini explained this by stating that these influential people easily bought advertising space in newspapers or call press conferences where they would call the ACC’s investigations a witch-hunt, among other things. He continued to state that their other challenge was lack of comprehensive legislative policy and strategy. He explained that the kingdom’s economy was not responsive to the needs of the ordinary people of the country. “We need the economy to respond to the needs of the ordinary man on the street,” Dlamini said. Dlamini further stated that the business environment was not saturated but some people were operating like the mafia. He said they not only killed people out of hate but because they were ‘all over the place’. He said the mafia-like people believed murdering business people who maximised on business opportunities would give their own businesses space to breathe. Dlamini stated that investigators should demonstrate the highest levels of integrity in the conduct of their public and private affairs in order to ensure that public confidence was restored to the work of the commission. He also said investigation was only a small step within the administration of justice cycle and all the other parts should also play their role to ensure that the negative impact of corruption was reversed. Dlamini also decried the current situation experienced by the ACC and likened it to get a situation where their hands were handcuffed. He said their investigations had to be authorised by the commissioner by way of issuing an investigation certificate. Dlamini explained that they did not work like police officers who could investigate people without any documentation. He stated that the commission did not have a commissioner since February which then meant no one issued investigation certificates. Dlamini informed attendants of the Seminar that the absence of the commissioner was costing them. He stated that they were however, not in control of the process of filling the vacant position but other institutions within government were. He said they would wait for the hiring authorities to recruit someone as they had no power to fast track the process.