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COURTROOM EMPTY AFTER GOVT STANCE ON ‘DD’ CASES

02/11/2020 08:37:00 Sibusiso Shange

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MBABANE - An empty courtroom summed up the recent stance taken by government that drink-driving cases would no longer be dealt with on weekends.

This was the scenario at the Mbabane Magistrates Court yesterday as no drink-drivers appeared. In fact, there was no car, personnel or a magistrate inside the courtroom as has been the case for many years on Sundays. A report released by the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) revealed that there were about 23 motorists arrested between Friday and Saturday.
They included those accused of driving on the public road while under the influence of alcohol. Previously, judicial officers were allocated weekend matters so that offenders could be dealt with as required by the law.

Arrested

The law provides that a person arrested and charged for an offence should not be kept in custody for more than 48 hours without being presented before a court of law. This means that procedurally, if a person is arrested and charged on Friday, he/ she cannot remain in custody until Monday. The judicial officers were paid overtime for presiding over the weekend matters since they worked extended hours. The suspension of weekend courts was done as a cost cutting measure within the Judiciary. This came after the Judiciary announced that due to financial constraints, with effect from October 1, 2020, there will be no courts dealing with traffic offences on weekends.The latest development was communicated to all judicial officers through a minute signed by Supreme Court Registrar Lungile Msimango, who also doubles as the secretary of the Judicial Service Commission.

The minute, which was copied to all principal magistrates, senior magistrates, magistrates and clerks of court was dated October 9, 2020. It was previously reported that in a period of just seven months, magistrates claimed over E1 million in overtime. The total amount claimed by the judicial officers for working on weekends was E1 173 406.59. It is common knowledge that magistrates who worked on weekends presided mostly over traffic offences, a bulk of which were drink-driving cases.