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STAY AWAY FROM COURTS – LAW SOCIETY TO MEMBERS

04/04/2020 00:26:00 BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE

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MBABANE – “We are reminding our members not to appear before any court unless extremely necessary. We are not an essential service.”

This was said by the Vice President of the Law Society of Swaziland (LSS) Lucky Howe, who further urged lawyers to shut down their offices in light of the statement that had been issued by the government on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Howe was referring to the statement wherein the government specifically stated that all businesses and entities that were not involved in the manufacturing, supply or provision of essential goods and services should cease operation.

Government also announced that there will be a complete lockdown of all non-essential government services with effect from next week Monday until Wednesday April 15, 2020.

He said at the end of the day, the government was the ultimate authority and once it had spoken in this fashion all of our rights were diminished to a great extent including the authority of the chief justice. He said the chief justice should understand that his powers had now been reduced immensely because of the situation.

Comply

Howe went on to ask lawyers to comply with the decision of the government as they were not an essential service.
“From our point of view we are advising and reminding our members of the instruction from the government. The authorities have spoken and we have to follow that as the membership,” said Howe.

He further warned members of the public not to be surprised when they find that their legal representatives had closed offices and were not present in court to represent them. The vice president urged litigants to contact their lawyers through emails or any other forms of communication until the situation has normalised.

“The executive of the Law Society of Swaziland is calling upon all its members and legal practitioners during this period of the worldwide COVID- 19 pandemic to limit their social and human ‘foot print’ and accordingly implement social distancing measures which include closure of their offices during this period, unless extremely necessary or where rights of persons have been infringed whereupon access to the courts is justified to defer all other ordinary matters to another date,” reads part of the statement issued by the LSS vice president.

Cessation

The law society further called upon the chief justice, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, magistrates and court personnel to join hands with them (legal fraternity) and the nation to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which might include the cessation of all trial proceedings, motion proceedings save for urgent or exceptional circumstances where the rights of persons had been infringed upon and to maintain a minimum skeletal staff for such purpose.

“Likewise, all lawyers are encouraged to scale down their legal practices to a bare minimum, to work from home, file pleadings electronically and where possible postpone all ordinary matters and to likewise practice fair play with the highest ethical standards and responsibility during this difficult period, “ said Howe

He concluded by stating that: “Your co-operation during this difficult time will save lives. God bless you all and be safe.”

Directive

Meanwhile, the CJ recently issued a directive informing all judges to continue working during this period.
“You are reminded to report to work timesouly and execute your duties accordingly. You are further advised to observe the necessary precautions in the practice directive,” reads part of the directive.

According to the practice directive, only judicial officers who are lawfully on leave will be excused from reporting to work.
It had been reliably gathered that the directive by the CJ did not go down well with most of the judges as they felt that by continuing coming to work they were exposing themselves to the virus.

“This is not only unfair but it is also discriminatory as flexible working conditions have been made for the support staff,” said one of the concerned judges.
They further noted that the directive by the chief justice did not talk about them working from home, self-isolation or quarantining themselves but only directed them to report to work timeously.

One of the judge opined that instead they should be allowed to work from home as it seems the situation was calamitous and due to the stance that had been taken by government for the containment of the virus.
“We are worried why we are not allowed to work from home as lawyers do not come to court and clearly our lives are in danger. This is the time we should be working from home, writing reserved judgments,” added another concerned judge.

The judges said sometimes they went to court only to find that there were no lawyers, no witnesses and no prosecutors, forcing them to postpone matters. According to the judge, this has resulted in them postponing most of the matters. It was further observed by the judges that since the outbreak of the virus, no one had met with them to discuss precautionary measures they were expected to take and they mostly relied on the media for information.

On Monday, Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza came in court wearing a surgical mask and went on to inform lawyers that she was feeling uncomfortable as her throat was itchy and she was coughing.
The principal judge said since she was coughing, the attorneys who were in court were in danger. She pointed out that because judges had not been sensitised on COVID-19, she was not aware as to when or at what stage she was supposed to start getting worried.

“No one came to have a meeting with us to tell us about the precautionary measures we need to take for the containment of the disease. No medical practitioner had come to educate us about this virus,” said Judge Mabuza.

Postpone

Chief Justice was also reported to have told judges that it was not acceptable to postpone matters on condition of the coronavirus.
Following the latest development, a questionnaire was sent to the CJ through the Information Technology Officer of the Judiciary of Eswatini, Njabulo Malindzisa, but no response had been received at the time of compiling this report.