CJ MOVES INTO E11M HOUSE..... the SCANDAL that is Michael Ramodibedi BY MDUDUZI MAGAGULA. MBABANE – Chief Justice (CJ) Michael Ramodibedi has moved out of the Royal Villas Hotel in Ezulwini. He now lives in a four-bedroom house that cost government at least E11 million to build, from an initial budgeted cost of E4 million. He moved into the new residence about a week ago. Ramodibedi now resides in a new government house, located inside the exclusive residential village for judges in the Dalriach suburb of Mbabane. The E11 million cost for the CJ’s house is deduced from the fact that government spent over E55 million constructing five houses in the judge’s complex. The house was completed and handed over to government by the contractor, Roots Construction, in April 2013. This means the house was idle for over a year, while the CJ stayed at the expensive Royal Villas. The reason for his failure to move in was stated then, as having been the fact that the house did not have furniture. This furniture was supposed to have been bought by government for the use of His Lordship and his family. Before moving into the plush house, the CJ occupied a villa at the Royal Villas, a hotel built in 2003 and owned by Tibiyo TakaNgwane. This is where government paid at least E30 000 per month on rental for the villa and the general upkeep of the CJ in the hotel. Government spent about E1.3 million on accommodating the CJ at the villas throughout this period. Ramodibedi took occupancy of the villa in 2010, after he could not be accommodated in the house that was previously occupied by former Chief Justice Richard Banda. The CJ has lived at the hotel since he was appointed to lead the Judiciary. Sibusiso Shongwe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, confirmed that the CJ had moved into his new residence. “He moved from the Royal Villas last week,” he said briefly in an interview on Friday. The CJ’s residence was constructed together with four other houses for judges of the High Court, in a complex located in the upmarket capital city suburb. The CJ’s house is bigger than the others within the village. Minister Shongwe said the other houses were not complete as yet. According to an employee of Roots Construction who asked not to be identified because he was not tasked to speak on behalf of the company, the house structures were complete. What remains now is the landscaping of the yard around the houses and minor construction work. This financial year, government set aside E4.7 million for the judges’ houses construction. This figure increased the total cost of the project to over E55.8 million from the initially stated E20 million that was allocated and budgeted for the Judiciary infrastructure in the financial year 2011/12. Last year, government had set aside E14.3 million for the project and the CJ’s house was completed then. This means construction of the houses increased by over 100 per cent from the initial budget, as stated at the initiation of the project about four years ago. Each of the double-storey houses has four bedrooms. The house to be allocated to the CJ was officially handed to government in April 2013, together with another, which was also said to be complete. The handover was made by Roots Construction. The keys handover ceremony was attended by, among others, Thembinkosi Mamba, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and senior officials from the Ministry of Public Service. The media was not allowed to cover the event. It is secured by a perimeter wall, a gate and a guardhouse. This is despite the fact that the judges’ complex, where it is located, also has a security wall and a guardhouse at the main entrance. Mgwagwa Gamedze, then Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, in an interview after the handover of the house said Ramodibedi’s move to the house was to be further delayed, until at least a month. Gamedze is now Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. He had said the delay was necessitated by the fact that the house had no furniture. He said government was yet to procure furniture due to shortage of funds. Explaining the escalation of costs for constructing the judges’ houses from the E20 million that was initially projected to have been enough for the project, he said the costs had escalated significantly from the original budget, saying this could have been due to government’s failure to pay the contractor on time. Gamedze said the delays were mostly caused by the fact that government did not have funds due to the financial crisis that engulfed the country in recent years. Ramodibedi was initially contracted to work as CJ for three years. His contract was initially for the period from February 2010 to February 2013. However, he continues working on the strength of an indefinite contract. At one of the breakfast meetings with editors about a year ago, Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini denied that there were constitutional violations in this arrangement, saying the CJ was in office legally. The constitution stipulates that after seven years from its promulgation, the chief justice of Swaziland should be a Swazi. It was passed into law in July 2005, which means seven years elapsed in 2012. Dlamini told editors then, that this was taken care of by extending the contract into an indefinite one before the seven-year period was up.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 05:27:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015