Times Of Swaziland: JUSTICE DELAYED AS COURTS BACKLOG AT 29 690 CASES

JUSTICE DELAYED AS COURTS BACKLOG AT 29 690 CASES
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Kwanele Dlamini on 25/02/2025 08:31:00


MBABANE – “Delayed justice is worthless.” In the country, a collage of
challenges is contributing to the delay in serving the public justice; resulting
in some accused persons returning to the societies where they are accused of
inflicting pain through a variety of criminal acts. As such, this has led to a
huge backlog of cases, tipping the scales at 29 690 in all the courts.
Aside from the backlog of cases and shortage of human resources, among other
challenges, the infrastructure assigned to the Judiciary is said to be
insufficient as judicial officers share courtrooms and are also in a dilapidated
state.
These inefficiencies, according to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional
Affairs Annual Performance Report for the financial year 2024/25, are the
genesis of the backlog of cases in the courts. The veracity of these findings is
still to be tested, as the report is yet to be debated in Parliament.The report
was tabled in Parliament by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs,
Prince Simelane.
Shortage
There has been a significant shortage of personnel in the courts and Master’s
Office due to the non-appointment of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC),
which was last in office around August 2024. To date, a new JSC is still to be
appointed. Ever since the expiry of the term of Office of the JSC last year,
contracts of employment of acting judges, magistrates and assistant masters,
could not be renewed. The appointment and renewal of employment contracts for
these officers is the responsibility of the JSC. Section 159 of the Constitution
provides that there shall be an independent Judicial Service Commission for
Eswatini, which shall consist of the following; the chief justice, who is its
chairman, two legal practitioners of not less than seven years of practice and
in good professional standing to be appointed by the King as well as two persons
appointed by the King.
Posts
According to the annual report, many posts in the Judiciary for judges,
magistrates, assistant registrars, assistant masters, clerks, secretaries,
typists and estate examiners need to be filled.
The report contains a comprehensive overview of the status of court cases across
various jurisdictions within the reporting period. A recurring theme is the
presence of pending or backlog cases. Many courts show a significant number of
cases carried over from previous quarters, indicating potential delays in the
judicial process.
The cases highlight significant variations in caseloads across different courts.
The High Court and magistrates courts, particularly Manzini Magistrates Court,
handle a substantial volume of cases compared to specialised courts like the
Industrial Court of Appeal or Small Claims Courts in smaller towns. The Supreme
Court has a backlog of 79 cases. Forty of these cases are criminal matters,
while 38 are civil cases. In this court, there is a relatively balanced handling
of cases, with completed cases often exceeding registered cases in the civil
jurisdiction.
The High Court has a backlog of 2 839 cases – 2 316 civil and 523 criminal
matters. This court handles a high volume of cases, particularly in the civil
jurisdiction. The civil backlogs are very high.
Appeals from the magistrates courts, which are pending are 892 and there are 6
950 reviews from the magistrates court are dealt with by the High Court. The
Industrial Court of Appeal is yet to conclude 17 cases, while it has a backlog
of 1 252. The Manzini Magistrates Court has 12 200 pending cases – 6 950 civil
matters and 5 261 criminal cases. The Manzini Magistrates Court has the highest
caseload among all magistrates courts, with substantial backlogs in both civil
and criminal jurisdictions. At Mbabane Magistrates Court, there are 1 568
pending cases. Of these, 1 085 are civil matters and 483 criminal cases.
The reviews from the magistrates’ court category show an exceptionally high
number of cases, significantly exceeding other categories. Magistrates courts
handle a huge volume of cases, and the Manzini location is handling by far the
largest amount of cases. Other magistrates courts also show varying levels of
backlog, with Lubombo showing a high criminal backlog. Small Claims Courts show
varying caseloads, depending on location, with Manzini handling the highest
volume.
The backlog numbers are also varied by location. Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala,
during the last official opening of the High Court, said the Judiciary had at
that time already approached government and met the prime minister, ministers
for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Finance and Public Service for the
appointment of new judges, magistrates and support staff. Maphalala noted that
there were insufficient magistrates and judges. “These numbers are not
sufficient to deal with the backlog of cases.
It is important that government comes to our rescue and gives us courtrooms,
judges, magistrates and support staff. “Currently, there are judges of the
High Court and Supreme Court who are sharing interpreters and secretaries. This
is absurd for a country that gained independence in 1968. We are expected to
deliver on our mandate. We cannot, unless we have the tools,” added the CJ. He
stated that the previous government significantly cut the budget for the
Judiciary and it had the tendency to put aside requests from it and label them
as not urgent.
He further informed the attendees that since 2015, they had been pleading with
government to allocate sufficient posts for judicial officers and support staff
and to sanction the construction of the courts. He said government of the day
did not support the Judiciary in carrying out its mandate.  Maphalala said the
courts were inundated with large volumes of crimes including premeditated
murder, robbery and aggravated rape. The CJ further mentioned that Correctional
facilities are overcrowded because of the high volume of inmates awaiting trial.
Some of the inmates, according to Maphalala, have spent many years, some up to
10, in custody.
He said a team of five principal magistrates was appointed to visit Correctional
facilities to ensure that inmates awaiting trial do not stay longer than
necessary. “If a country’s justice system is slow in finalising cases, this
will impact negatively on the government’s capacity to attract direct foreign
investment. The speed to finalise cases is determined to a large extent by the
availability of sufficient judicial officers as well as the availability of
courts,” the CJ said. Maphalala stated that the statistics of new and pending
cases, which run into the thousands, within the Judiciary are very high and that
the underlying causes of the backlog of cases are the shortage of courts,
judges, magistrates and support staff.