LAW SOCIETY ELECTIONS DEFERRED AFTER STALEMATE

MBABANE – The election of a new council of the Law Society of Eswatini (LSE) had to be deferred after there was reportedly a stalemate between lawyers over this item.

On Saturday, the LSE held its annual general meeting (AGM) at Emafini. It is reported that a majority of the lawyers who were in attendance were of the view that there should be no new elections, instead, the current executive should be allowed to continue occupying office. Others, however, reportedly felt that same should be conducted as allowing the current council to automatically continue holding office without elections being conducted, would be an undemocratic thing to do.  

Subscriptions   

It was then agreed that the elections should be deferred to February next year and that those who were desirous to vote and to be voted for should be screened, to ensure that they were in good standing in terms of paying subscriptions. This means that the council, which is being led by senior lawyers Mangaliso Magagula and Sidumo Mdladla, will remain in office. Secretary of the LSE, Charity Simelane, said it was resolved by the membership that the elections and sub-committee reports items be deferred to February 2024. Among the lawyers who attended the AGM and made submissions was former High Court Judge Sipho Nkosi. Some of the issues that were discussed included the breakdown of the rule of law.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, the President of the law society, Magagula reportedly delivered a report, where he outlined achievements and challenges they encountered. In his report, the president mentioned that the past two and a half years had been very challenging for the legal profession. “We faced multiple challenges at both national and professional levels. Some of these challenges are still ongoing and are a threat to the practice of law and the rule of law. The law society must remain engaged in dealing with the challenges. Equally important is the need to reform, capacitate and strengthen the office of the law society, so that it can best serve the legal profession and provide the institutional framework to regulate the practice of law and promote the interests of the legal profession,” reads part of the president’s report.

He pointed out that during this period, the legal fraternity lost seven of its colleagues, who untimely passed away.  Magagula mentioned that the colleagues who passed away during this period were: Sikelela Magongo, Kush Vilakati, Thulani Maseko, Phindile Sikhondze, Knox Nxumalo, Bongumenzi Mkhonta and Vusi Kunene. The LSE president said it was regrettable that as the legal fraternity, they had been denied the right to honour their departed colleagues through a mention. Magagula pointed out that this was a tradition, where they honoured their departed colleagues in the place where lawyers worked, the courtroom, and in a way that defined them as members of the noble legal profession. “It was painful to tell families of our departed colleagues that we cannot hold a mention for their loved ones, because the chief justice (CJ) has refused to allow this tradition. It is a pity that a courtroom is required to honour our colleagues through the traditional mention,” said Magagula in his report. He went on to tell the lawyers in attendance that the law society could not be left behind in adapting to these new technologies, which had become a reality of life going forward. He mentioned that the law society had been participating in a project intended to digitalise the courts. The programme, according to the president, was known as the Integrated Change Management System.

Allocation

He said the programme removed human intervention in case management. Magagula, in his report, stated that the manual allocation of cases had been one of the contentious issues in the administration of justice.  The president said the new technologies would hopefully enable greater participation of members of the law profession in their affairs. He stated that they also had to adapt to the by-laws to these new realities. In his report, the LSE president further highlighted that during the unrest, which was one of the most difficult periods in the country, the legal profession was able to participate and provide their views on how the law society should navigate in what was one of the most difficult challenges they faced.  “We had to take into account differing opinions and balance them with the objects of the Law Society as a professional body representing the interests of the legal profession. The council valued the contributions of the legal fraternity. The contributions guided the approach taken on issues relating to the unrest. The use of the virtual platforms enabled the participation of members even those outside the country,” reads part of the report.

He pointed out that members were able to express their views without having to physically attend meetings. Magagula said the use of virtual platforms has seen an increase in the participation of the legal fraternity in their affairs. We have no doubt that as we go into the future, this will continue. Efforts to get comment from the registrar of the High Court proved to be futile as her phone rang unanswered.  The register was being sought to answer on the allegations that the CJ declined to allocate lawyers a courtroom whenever they wanted to conduct the mention.

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