CAN JUDGES BE ARRESTED?

MBABANE – The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland shall be called to question during the trial of three High Court judges arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of conflict of interest and abuse of power.

This is in relation to a judge’s privilege of immunity enshrined in Section 141 (4) of the supreme law and this relates only to the charge of conflict of interest and abuse of power.

According to Section 141 (4), a judge of a superior court, which is the High Court and Supreme Court, are not liable to any action or suit for what they do when they preside over cases in open court.

The judges are Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi, Justice Mpendulo Simelane and Justice Jacobus Annandale.
Reads Section 141 which is likely to be a centre of argument during the trial: “A judge of a superior court or any person exercising judicial power is not liable to any “action” or suit for any act or omission by that judge or person exercising judicial power, in the exercise of their judicial functions.”

However, legal experts said the prosecution might advance a counter-argument by invoking Section 240 of the Constitution which prevents public officers, including judges from engaging in conduct that was likely to compromise the honesty, impartiality and integrity of that officer; likely to lead to corruption in public affairs; or which is detrimental to the public good or welfare or good governance.

Without necessarily delving into merits and demerits of the case, the onus would be on the state to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the judges’ act smacked of criminality and that there was no intention to exercise a judicial power within the confines of their judicial functions.
Sipho Gumedze, a Human Rights and Constitutional lawyer, argued that, in the case of the chief justice, he (Ramodibedi) has two roles – one of being a judge and the second of being an administrator of the Judiciary.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: