Times Of Swaziland: MOB JUSTICE, MURDER, SODV CASES ON THE RISE – CJ

MOB JUSTICE, MURDER, SODV CASES ON THE RISE – CJ
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Mbongiseni Ndzimandze on 17/03/2022 08:22:00


MBABANE – “Cases of rape, mob justice, murder, rape and those under SODV are
now on the rise.”
This was said by Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala yesterday when
congratulating the four new permanent judges of the High Court.  Lizinga
lemacala emob justice ayangekunyuka, siyawabona kanye nalowo emurder, SODV ne
rape lizinga lisetulu kakhulu,” said the chief justice in vernacular. He said
they believed that the appointment of the four judges would reduce the backlog
of cases. His Majesty King Mswati III has appointed three senior lawyers and a
UNESWA law lecturer as permanent judges of the High Court. The senior attorneys
are Zonke Magagula, Bonginkhosi Magagula, Bongani Sydney Dlamini along with law
lecturer at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Khontaphi Manzini, they were
yesterday sworn-in by the CJ.
Dlamini, who is a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), and Manzini
were also part time commissioners at the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration
Commission (CMAC). Manzini is the wife of senior Lawyer Jack Mabandla Manzini,
who is an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court. The two other judges (Judges Zonke
and Bonginkhosi) were running private law firms and were on diverse occasions
appointed as acting judges of the High Court. The CJ wished the four judges the
best. Maphalala said some of the new judges would be deployed to the
newly-established Commercial Court. According to the CJ, the Commercial Court
would start working probably next week as all was now in place, including
support staff and equipment.
Disputes
The Commercial Court will deal with all types of business disputes, including
breach of contract, tort, property, trust and probate, IT disputes, judicial
review, corporate mergers, global restructuring, insurance portfolio transfers,
international swaps and derivatives or other investment disputes and
intellectual property. The Investor Road map Unit in 2015 said although the
country had improved in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business 2016, there were
areas where Eswatini was not performing well, for instance, enforcing contracts.
It has been reliably gathered that the Commercial Court will be housed at the
Royal Science Technology Park, which is situated at Nokwane.
Matters enrolled at the Commercial Court are less likely to be postponed on the
date of the actual hearing since there are various steps in place to ensure that
matters are ready for trial, including case management and holding frequent
pre-trial conferences. The Commercial Court will be a division of the High Court
of Eswatini and vested with jurisdiction to hear and determine commercial
disputes. He further pointed that the court would utilise and be guided by High
Court rules in so far as the rules were not inconsistent with the practice
directive.
“The mandate of the Commercial Court is to promote the expeditious and
efficient resolution of commercial dispute,” said CJ Maphalala. He further
pointed out that the registrar of the High Court would allocate commercial cases
to the judges of the Commercial Court after due consultation with him (CJ).