stopped from executing his duties as a judge with immediate effect pending finalisation of their application to have his appointment revoked. The Society filed an urgent application at the High Court praying for the urgent stopping of Judge Simelane from carrying out his duties as they alleged his judgments would cause great confusion should his appointment be revoked. In his application, Lucky Howe, who is representing the Law Society, wants the application to be heard as a matter of urgency. He says this is because Judge Simelane’s appointment was being challenged constitutionally; as such it is the interest of the public that the matter be heard as a matter of urgency. “The effects of orders granted and issued by Judge Simelane in an attempt to dispense justice if it is found, that the said appointment is unconstitutional and contravenes the constitution of Swaziland and is held null and void and of no force and effect and should be set aside will cause great hardship both financially and in effect and will create undue confusion in society as to the rights of individual who appeared before him,” reads part of the application. The Law Society feels this will affect the rule of law and administration of justice in Swaziland as Judge Simelane’s continued sitting and rendering judgments will be executable on face value, without the proper and appropriate effect as envisaged by the Constitution thus not dispensing justice as expected. prejudice According to the application, the Law Society feels Judge Mpendulo will suffer no prejudice if the time frames and limits as per rules of the High Court are curtained and the matter be dealt with as a matter of urgency. The society wants an order declaring the appointment of Mpendulo as a judge inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of Swaziland Act 001 of 2005 and therefore, unconstitutional, null and void and of no force or effect and such appointment be accordingly set aside. They also want an order interdicting and restraining Judge Simelane from performing any functions as a judge of the High Court of Swaziland pending the final determination of the application. They want such provisions to operate as an interim order with immediate effect. In the initial application, the Law Society wants the appointment of Judge Simelane declared null and void because they believe he does not qualify to be a judge. They feel that the Constitution was overlooked when Judge Simelane was appointed. Section 154(1) (b) of the Constitution prescribes that a person shall not be appointed as a judge of the High Court unless he/she has been a legal practitioner, barrister or advocate of not less than 10 years’ practice in Swaziland or any part of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. According to the Law Society Judge Simelane has only practised for five years as a Crown Counsel. ...Principal judge declines to allocate judge HIGH Court Principal Judge Stanley Maphalala declined to allocate a judge to deal with the matter yesterday. The Law Society approached the principal judge applying that he allocates a judge to deal with the matter. Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi is the one vested with the power to allocate matters to judges at the High Court. According to Section 150 of the Constitution, the senior judge of the High Court shall take up the duties if the CJ is indisposed, hence the decision by the Law Society to approach Judge Maphalala. Decision The Law Society feels the chief justice cannot allocate a judge in the matter because he was also a respondent and his decision could not be fair. The CJ is also the Chairman of the Judicial Service commission (JSC) and the Commission has been cited as the second respondent in the urgent application. “Judge Maphalala declined to allocate the matter,” said attorney Lucky Howe. Lawyer, AG summoned by Makhulu Baas AFTER trying unsuccessfully to have the High Court Principal Judge Stanley Maphalala allocate a judge for the application to have Judge Mpendulo stopped from executing his duties, the chief justice Michael ramodibedi summoned lawyer Lucky Howe and the legal team from the attorney general’s office. Howe was called to the CJ’s chambers yesterday afternoon together with the legal two lawyers from the attorney general’s office. At first, Howe declined to go to the CJ’s chambers. He said if the chief justice had something to say to him he would find him in open court. He made it clear that in Swaziland no one had the power to summon him except His Majesty King Mswati III. He waited for about 15 minutes in Court A until he was told to go and meet with the CJ in his chambers together with the two lawyers from the AG offices, who also indicated they did not know why they were called to appear before the CJ. After the meeting with the CJ, the lawyer attacked the AG representatives, saying they were cowards. He alleged that they failed to stand for themselves. However, he could not reveal the outcome of the meeting despite making it clear that he was going to approach other judges to take the matter. observer.org.sz/news/61853-stop-judge-mpendulo-now.html
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 08:21:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015