SUPREME COURT POSTPONEMENT

Police addressing law practitioners before they deliver a petition in this file picture.

MBABANE – The country’s superior courts will come to a near halt for a month after the indefinite postponement of the first session of the Supreme Court and lawyers have called upon the Judiciary to take action to address the situation.

The Registrar of the Supreme Court Lorraine Hlophe issued a memorandum notifying the legal fraternity and other stakeholders that the May 2015 session of the Supreme Court had been postponed indefinitely. She never gave specific reasons for the postponement, but it coincided with the pending warrant of arrest against the Chief Justice, Michael Ramodibedi, who has for two weeks now locked himself in his house to avoid being apprehended.
At least 45 appeals had been placed on the roll for the sessions that was supposed to commence on May 4, 2015 (tomorrow) until June 4, 2015. When the Supreme Court is sitting, the High Court takes a break, which means that only matters filed on urgent basis would be heard.

Attorneys have complained that this meant that the higher courts of the country would be grounded for close to a month and this would a financial drain to them. They have also said this would affect their clients because it means that appeal cases would not be finalised and it is not known when the situation would be normalised. The Chief Justice, Michael Ramodibedi, is the chairman of the Judicial Service Commission and a presiding Judge of the Supreme Court. The Secretary General of the Law Society of Swaziland, Nkosinathi Manzini, has said legal practitioners’ clients would be the most affected by the long break. Asked if there could be a solution, Manzini said something could be agreed upon by the Law Society of Swaziland and the administration of the High Court.

“We hope to meet with the administration to tell us what to expect and what will happen next.”
Lawyer Zweli Jele, a senior partner at Robinson Bertram and Associates said lawyers were hugely affected by the abrupt postponement of the session of the Supreme Court as they had already made preparations to appear before it for their clients. It was unfortunate that there had to be a postponement after a roll and dates in which cases would be heard had already been set.

“We book advocates on specific dates and now we do not know if they would be available for the next dates. However, we do recognise that the current situation (in the judiciary) did not allow continuation of the session,” Jele said.
Lawyer Sidumo Mdladla of SV Mdladla and Associates the situation that influenced the postponement of the session was beyond control. He said clients’ cases should be resolved and finalised quickly.

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