MPS QUESTION INDEPENDENCE OF INQUIRY AT MASTER’S OFFICE

MBABANE – Current and former Members of Parliament (MPs) are not swayed by the setting up of a commission of inquiry into the office of the Master of the High Court, expressing their dissatisfaction on its independence.

The Chief Justice (CJ), Bheki Maphalala heeded the calls made during Sibaya to investigate the operations of the Master of the High Court. He has put in place a judicial commission of inquiry to look into alleged irregularities and corrupt practices at the Master of the High Court, which has seen some beneficiaries suffering for years while they failed to access millions of Emalangeni left by their deceased loved ones. However, this move by the CJ is not holding any water for some current and former parliamentarians, who argued that the independence of the inquiry was questionable.

Revealed

Former Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Musa Kunene, who was Gege MP in the 11th Parliament, revealed that the CJ was not the rightful person to set up the inquiry or appoint persons in it. Kunene said the Judges appointed in the inquiry were reporting to the CJ as the head of the Judiciary and his direct involvement in this development presented a conflict of interest.

“Let us wait and see what the outcomes of the probe would be but one can conclude that it will not be the desired results because the people appointed by the CJ in the commission report directly to him. In my opinion, an independent judge should have been given the responsibility to set up the inquiry, not the CJ. Where is the independence of the inquiry in this,” he wondered.

Kunene also shared that the members of the commission should execute their duties with transparency and precision, for the benefit of the people directly affected by the irregularities at the Master’s office. The commission consists of five judges and it will be headed by Supreme Court Judge Majahenkhaba Dlamini, who will be deputised by High Court Judge Mzwandile Fakudze.

Former Madlangempisi MP Sibusiso ‘Scorpion’ Nxumalo, who was the Vice Chairperson of the PAC in the 11th Parliament, asserted that the CJ could not investigate himself. Nxumalo said this was a step in the right direction, but there should have been a person from outside entrusted with the responsibility to appoint members of the inquiry.

“If the CJ wishes for the Master of the High Court to be probed fairly, he should not be part of the process,” he said. Nxumalo said it was surprising that the CJ was now setting up a commission of inquiry to probe the Master’s office when he was the one who stopped a probe initiated by the 11th Parliament, into the same office.Current PAC Chairperson and Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga said he was not privy to the terms of reference of the inquiry, while mentioning that it would be premature of him to share his opinion on the matter for now.

Touched

However, he also touched on the issue of independence and stated that the PAC still had the mandate to look into the matter, as they were an independent constituted body, which had the right to investigate or review all past, current and committed expenditures of government and organisations receiving funds from government.

In the PAC’s recommendations on the Auditor General (AG) Financial Audit report on government accounts for the financial year which ended on March 31, 2021, the irregularities at the Master’s office were listed. At the time, the AG, Timothy Matsebula, highlighted in the report that the Judiciary had failed to account for over E300 million, under the Guardian Fund, and that some people could claim back their bail money after being acquitted.
He said crucial documents were lost at the Master’s Office, leaving widows and children worse off, while property was undervalued (e.g. cattle are valued at E2 000 per head, while goats are valued at E350 per head).

He also mentioned that beneficiaries of deceased persons’ estates were not notified through advertisements about funds left by their relatives, as required by law and assistant Masters of the High Court signed blank cheques, which were then filled by accountants on their own. “It is disheartening that, despite all these anomalies, the Judiciary prevents parliamentarians from exercising their representative and oversight roles, by stopping the legislature from investigating these irregularities. For instance, the House of Assembly elected a Select Committee to investigate the irregularities in the office of the Master of the High Court, but the office of the CJ stopped that investigation,” said the AG through a report at the time.

Matsebula said these issues needed to be addressed politically, since they were above the Controlling Officers’ (ACC and Judiciary) reach.
The committee, therefore, recommended that the matter be reported to the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration for investigations, in line with Section 164 (2)(b) and to exercise its powers as outlined in Section 164 (1) (b), (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Eswatini Act, 2005, which empowers the commission to investigate “complaints of injustice, corruption, abuse of power in office, unfair treatment of any person by a public officer in the exercise of official duties.

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