‘CONTINUAL HEARING OF CASES DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK RECKLESS’

MBABANE – Vice president of the Law Society of Swaziland (LSS), Lucky Howe, has described the decision to continue hearing cases at the High Court during the outbreak of the COVID-19 as total recklessness.

In an email he sent to all lawyers, Howe stated that: “The government has made it clear that we are not essential and we should not be going to court. I asked the judge today why are we being called to court after the government has advised us to stay home. Do we need to see someone die before we follow instructions, please tell me.”

 A number of lawyers interviewed yesterday concurred with Howe, who said what was happening at the High Court was putting their lives and those of their families at risk.

“The situation is bad, so we all need to take the precautionary measures as advised by government and the health experts.  What exacerbates the situation is that at the High Court there is little or no precautionary measures that are in place for the containment of the spread of the virus,” said a senior lawyer who preferred anonymity.

reminding

Meanwhile, Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala recently issued a memo to all judges reminding them to report to work during this period.  The directive was also extended to all members of staff. “You are reminded to report to work timesouly and execute your duties accordingly. You are further advised to observe the necessary precautions in the practice directive,” reads part of the directive.

According to the practice directive, only judicial officers who were lawfully on leave would be excused from reporting to work. In a previous statement issued by the LSS, Howe urged lawyers to close their offices in light of the statement that had been issued by government on the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said at the end of the day, the government was the ultimate authority and once it had spoken in this fashion, all of their rights were diminished to a great extent including the authority of the chief justice. He said the chief justice should understand that his powers had now been reduced immensely because of the situation.

comply

Howe went on to ask lawyers to comply with the decision of the government as they were not an essential service.
 “From our point of view, we are advising and reminding our members of the instruction from the government. The authorities have spoken and we have to follow that as the membership,” said Howe.

He further warned members of the public not to be surprised when they find that their legal representatives had closed offices and that they were not present in court to represent them.  

contact

The vice president urged litigants to contact their lawyers through emails or any other forms of communication until the situation has normalised.
“The executive of  the Law Society of Swaziland is calling upon all its members and legal practitioners during this period of the worldwide COVID- 19 pandemic to limit their social and human ‘footprint’ and accordingly implement social distancing measures which include closure of their offices during this period, unless extremely necessary or where rights of persons have been infringed whereupon access to the courts is justified to defer all other ordinary matters to another date,” reads part of the statement issued by the LSS vice president.

The law society further called upon the chief justice, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, magistrates and court personnel to join hands with them (legal fraternity) and the nation to contain the spread of COVID-19, which might include the cessation of all trial proceedings, motion proceedings save for urgent or exceptional circumstances where the rights of persons had been infringed upon and to maintain a minimum skeletal staff for such purpose.

“Likewise, all lawyers are encouraged to scale down their legal practices to a bare minimum, to work from home, file pleadings electronically and where possible postpone all ordinary matters, “ said Howe.

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