RAMODIBEDI QUESTIONS ACTING CJ’S APPOINTMENT

Acting Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala shakes hands with suspended Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi in this file photo.

MBABANE – Suspended Chief Justice (CJ) Michael Ramodibedi has come out to challenge the appointment of Judge Bheki Maphalala as the acting CJ and further called for the overhaul of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

One of the members of the JSC, Musa Dlamini, the suspended CJ alleged, was a personal lawyer to Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini who was behind the whole judicial crisis, including what he described as trumped-up charges against him.

This, he said, happened in violation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.
This is contained in a confidential letter dated May 20, 2015, which Ramodibedi addressed to the JSC calling for the postponement of the hearing tomorrow.

In the letter, he said Judge Maphalala’s appointment to be the acting chief justice violated the country’s Constitution because he was basically not the most senior justice of the Supreme Court.
On the contrary, the suspended head of the Judiciary told the JSC that Justice Ebrahim was the most senior judge of the Supreme Court. He said the other senior judges were Justice Moore and Justice Twum.

Ramodibedi advised the JSC to refer attached copies of the appointment instruments of the judges signed by His Majesty the King.
“The other members of the Judicial Service Commission recommended and made common cause with this unconstitutional appointment, even to the extent of attending the acting chief justice’s swearing-in ceremony,” he stated in his letter.

He also called for the recusal of the members of the JSC and that the commission should be reconstituted in the interest of fairness and justice in terms of Section 158 (7) of the Constitution. 

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