Times Of Swaziland: LAWYERS: CJ SHOULD NAME POLITICAL ELITE LAWYERS: CJ SHOULD NAME POLITICAL ELITE ================================================================================ BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE AND KWANELE DLAMINI on 14/08/2019 00:55:00 MBABANE - Name them! Following Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala’s startling allegations about the presence of a political elite which has ‘captured’ the JSC, lawyers and members of the public have called upon the CJ to reveal their identities. Maphalala, who is also the chairman of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), made these allegations on Monday during the swearing-in of new members of the Commission. The members are Chief Mgebiseni, Bongani Sydney Dlamini, Chakazile Dlamini and Sibongile Zondi. These reporters were yesterday inundated with calls, mostly from lawyers and concerned members of the public asking about the identity of the political elite. The chief justice’s statement resulted in divergent opinions and interpretations from various sectors of society. Majority A majority of the callers felt that the head of the judiciary should have uncovered the faces of those behind the political elite, which he described as dangerous, powerful and regime-change oriented. The lawyers, who preferred to remain anonymous, felt that the chief justice, in his statement, only scratched the surface and further raised curiosity. Others were of the view that Maphalala’s allegations were factual judging from what was happening within the judiciary. “The chief justice surely knows what he is talking about as he is the one who is seized with the day to day operations of the commission. It will not be prudent for one to turn a blind eye on the allegations he made in his statement,” said one prominent senior lawyer. The senior lawyer went on to plead with those responsible to give this matter the attention it deserved. Some members of the public took to social media where they pleaded with the head of the judiciary to name and shame those who were hell-bent on disturbing or interfering with the operations of the commission. They noted that this was not the first time for a sitting chief justice to make similar allegations. During his tenure as chief justice, Michael Ramodidedi was quoted by the media as having said: “We will protect the King and the Constitution from the people who are spear-heading regime change. Like Maphalala, Ramodibedi did not mention any names in his statement. A questionnaire was sent to the Judiciary’s Information and Technology Officer Njabulo Malindzisa for the attention of the JSC secretary and the chief justice. Although confirming receiving the questionnaire, at the time of compiling this report, no responses had been received. Failing Before the members were sworn in on Monday, Maphalala stated that he would be failing in his duties as the chief justice if he did not mention that there was a political elite which was undermining and interfering with the constitutional mandate of the JSC. The chairman of the JSC stated that the said political elite was so powerful that they had arrogated to themselves the constitutional powers of key institutions in the country.