DID CJ ADVISE SIPHO ON LEGAL TEAM?

MBABANE – Did Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala and the Crown advise murder accused, Sipho Shongwe to ‘fire’ some members of his legal team?
CJ Maphalala is now being accused of having told Shongwe to withdraw the services of two lawyers who formed part of his legal team.

It is alleged that the CJ, through Shongwe’s relatives, approached the accused (Shongwe) while he was in prison and advised him that he should withdraw his instruction to lawyers Sipho Mnisi and Lucky Howe.

Shongwe is said to have refused to do so and advised the messenger to inform the CJ that he appreciated the advice but he was not willing to follow it.
These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court.

“Shongwe was also approached by the Crown and advised that he must withdraw his instructions to his attorney, Mr Mnisi and Lucky Howe and he must only retain the services of Mr Ben J Simelane,” alleged Howe.

Howe, who forms part of Shongwe’s legal team, disclosed this in the matter where Shongwe is opposing the application by the State, to allow two of its witnesses who are based in South Africa, to testify through audio visual link (AVL).

The two South African nationals, Mbusi ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi and Simphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane, who are implicated in the murder of astute businessman and football administrator Victor Gamedze, have since been turned into accomplice witnesses by the Crown.

Allowing

The request allowing the two State witnesses to testify through AVL was previously granted by the registrar of the High Court in consultation with the CJ. Howe alleged that the first time Shongwe had knowledge of the order allowing the two to utilise AVL was when they saw it in the newspapers. He submitted that Shongwe was then served with the order of the CJ on May 22, 2019.

He alleged that he notified the Crown’s representative, Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo, that the procedure that was followed by the State was irregular and that it had not been mentioned at the pre-trial conference.

“This is typical of the applicant (Crown) and it is perplexing that the Chief Justice was involved again in these proceedings, as he had been when the order of Judge Sipho Nkosi to release Shongwe was stayed in his (Shongwe) absence,” he argued.
Howe averred that this pattern of conduct by the Crown, in approaching the CJ in an improper and irregular fashion despite condemnation of the Supreme Court, was being repeated with impunity.

Memo

He alleged that Shongwe was served with a memo from the registrar of the High Court which had attached to it the order issued by the CJ permitting the use of AVL in the trial.
According to Howe, the memo was not served on Shongwe before the order was issued. He informed the court that the CJ had no jurisdiction to issue the order as the Remote Participation Act of 2018, made no provision for him to do so.

He narrated that after Shongwe sent a letter to the Crown advising it of the alleged misdirection, the State proceeded to serve the application on the accused (Shongwe) on May 23, 2019.

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