JUDGES ABANDON E55M COMPLEX

MBABANE – Has government funds gone to waste on a housing project, again? What was meant to be a solution to the problem of accommodation for judges of the High Court is turning out to be a potential white elephant project for government.
The lavish-looking houses that government built at a cost of E55 million for judges are failing to attract the members of the Judiciary to occupy them.

Commonly referred to as the Judges Complex, the compound, which is located in the Dalriach suburb of the capital city, Mbabane, consists of five four-bedroom mansions, one of which is reserved for the chief justice.
However, the Times SUNDAY understands from impeccable sources within the Judiciary that only two judges reside within the complex.
Indeed, a visit to the compound found that two of the mansions are empty while that of the Chief Justice, Bheki Maphalala, has furniture but he reportedly does not stay there.
Only judges Ticheme Dlamini and John Magagula were confirmed as living fulltime in the complex.

Recently Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza and Judge Nkululeko Dlamini vacated the complex for various reasons.
Others judges who previously lived in the complex but soon moved out include Justices Titus Mlangeni and Sipho Nkosi.
Two other judges, Justices Mbutfo Mamba and Jacobus Annandale reportedly did not take up the offer of moving into the complex when the offer came up because they had reservations about living there.
One of the highly-placed sources within the Judiciary said Justices Mamba and Annandale cited that they were pet lovers and could not therefore live in the compound.
“Judge Mamba indicated that he was not willing to stay in the complex for several reasons, including that you cannot keep any pets. He said he had dogs, a number of them, so he could keep them in there. He made it clear that the place was not friendly for him to keep such animals there. That’s the same reason that Judge Annandale also put forward,” related the source.

Judge Annandale is a known dog lover and at one point in 2013 he went to court to demand back a dog he had sold to someone after he found out that it was left alone outside at night.
The dog was a Daschund puppy and he had sold it to one Bhekiwe Dlamini who the judge said had disappeared from her premises after the dog had been left alone outside at night without adequate shelter.
Annandale said Dlamini contravened Section 3 of the Cruelty to Animal’s Act of 1962.
He won the case and the dog was given back to him after he had sold it for E2 300.

complaint

The highly-reliable source said one of the judges complained that the houses were too close to each other and were not separated and that they had to share one gate so there could be squabbles with their colleagues when their dogs strayed to neighbouring premises.
“One of the judges also felt that the houses’ proximity was just too close to each other and that was not okay for him. He said when he looked at the houses, he just felt he couldn’t live there because it was almost like living in a flat,” stated the impeccable source.

On the other hand, another equally highly-dependable source said with Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza, she cited cold and lack of comfortability as her main reasons for opting out of the house she had occupied.
The judge is said to have complained that she could not use the fireplace after being advised against doing so because of safety concerns.
“The problem is that the chimney of the fireplace goes from the ground floor and through the second floor and in the process it fills this floor with smoke. She was advised not to continue making fire in the fireplace because it would expose her life to a number of fire-related risks,” said the source.

Also, the source said Judge Mabuza also complained that the roof of her house was collapsing and water would leak inside each time it rained so she could not continue living in it.
“Imagine that she could no longer use the fireplace and then it rained and got cold. Judge Mabuza even pointed out that the houses were poorly designed and the design was not suitable for weather conditions such as that of Eswatini but suitable may be for countries such as Mexico,” stated that impeccable source.

It is understood that judges now prefer buying their own houses and using them for accommodation as opposed to moving into the complex.
Judge Mabuza, it has been reliably ascertained, moved out of the complex after she had also purchased her own house, which is also within the Mbabane suburbs.
The sources said this was the best option for the judges because government pays a monthly housing allowance of between E8 000 and E10 000 to judges who live in their homes.

“If you live within the complex, you have to pay a monthly rental fee of around E150, which is also affordable but it is better to have your own house and live in it,’’ said the one of the sources.
Besides Judge Mabuza, some of the judges that are reportedly living in their own houses are Justices Mamba, Mlangeni and Annandale.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala has more than one private homestead.

deprived peaceful night’s sleep
Months back, Judge Mlangeni was involved in a litigation battle with church members that worship next to his homestead as he complained that they were noisy.

He said the church even held sessions during mid-week and worshipped into the middle of the night, something that deprived his family of a peaceful night’s sleep.
Efforts to get the Judiciary to comment on the abandoned houses were unsuccessful as Supreme Court Registrar Lungile Msimango, who doubles as Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), did not respond to questions that were sent to her and neither did she respond to countless mobile phone calls made to her.

Ncobile Dlamini, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, also referred enquiries to Msimango.
Attempts were also made to call the chief justice but he also did not answer his mobile phone each time he was called.
Deputy Government Press Secretary Sabelo Dlamini also said it was the Judiciary that could best respond to the issue because they were the ones who had information on why the judges were not occupying the houses.    

initial budget

Meanwhile, the mansions in the Judges Complex were built by government through contractor Roots Construction, in a project that commenced in 2010.
The project’s initial budget was E4 million per house but by the time it was completed sometime in 2014, the cost had ballooned to E11 million a house, resulting in the cost being put at E55 million.
When the houses were ready to receive their occupants, controversy ensued when Judge Mabuza was not allocated a house because judicial authorities said she was a ‘junior judge’.
This was despite Judge Mabuza being the fourth senior judge at the time coming after the then Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi (now deceased), the then Principal Judge Stanley Maphalala (now Supreme Court Judge) and Judge Annandale (also Supreme Court Judge now).

Judge Mabuza was denied one of the mansions within the complex despite that she had to move out of the house that was allocated to her because it had to be demolished to give way to the construction of the current United Nations offices.
It took the intervention of the country’s authorities, who ordered that Judge Mabuza be allocated a house within the exclusive judges’ residence.           
In a related incident, another government housing project that has proved to be a waste of public funds is the construction of 15 houses at Sikhuphe not far away from the King Mswati III International Airport.

As reported by the Times of Eswatini daily newspaper, the houses were built in 2014 by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport at a cost of E3.8 million but they have been found to be not suitable for human habitation.
The houses were built using material and technology imported from Egypt called glass fibre reinforced concrete (GRC) technology.

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